Jersey-based Affinity Private Wealth has recruited Cait Perris as a senior trust manager and Sophie Leeuwenburg as trust officer.

Perris latterly headed HSBC’s Middle East team, based in Bahrain, while Leeuwenburg joins from a Jersey-based independent trust company. Like all other employees, the new recruits will become business owners, Affinity said in a statement.

Affinity was launched in the autumn of last year by David Stearn, Ben Stott, Justin Thomas, Russell Waite and Julia Warrander – who were all previously at Fairbairn Private Bank.

Other recruits to join since the firm’s launch are Sean Crisp - latterly of Citco – who is now director of the trust team and compliance director at Affinity, and Belen Santamaria who joined as an investment executive to carry out investment trading, research and analysis. Santamaria previously worked at Société Générale, Goldman Sachs and Standard Bank.

Affinity has put value for money front and centre in marketing its offering and is currently offering a reduced fee of 0.85 per cent (down from 0.95 per cent) of funds under management to its first 25 discretionary clients, with the aim of cutting charges for all clients once it reaches £200 million (about $315 million) in assets. 

The offer is still open, although only a few places remain, a spokesperson for the firm told WealthBriefing. Affinity currently has $83 million in assets under management.

“This [payment structure] provides a community benefit to our clients, and acts as an incentive to make referrals,” David Stearn, managing director, told this publication earlier this year.

“The Retail Distribution Review is bringing change to the charging structures used by wealth managers and financial advisors, but currently tariffs can be opaque and confusing,” Stearn said. “This can lead to clients not knowing if their wealth managers receive commission, what they do with it and how this impacts the fee they are charged.”