The latest moves in wealth management from across Europe and the UK.

Raymond James
As its franchise model continues to attract independents, Raymond James is opening a new branch in London to focus on personal discretionary wealth management. The branch will be headed by principal Harry Burnham, who is joining from JM Finn.

Burnham began his career at Williams de Broë in 1996, moving on to Brewin Dolphin in 2000, where he spent 13 years. He has also worked at Ashcourt Rowan Asset Management (later acquired by Towry Asset Management) before joining JM Finn in 2016.

Burnham called Raymond James’ affiliate model “the next evolutionary step in investment management” and said it was no surprise that the firm was seeing some of the “fastest growth” in the sector. The US Florida-based parent has been operating in the UK since 2001 and logged £11.1 billion ($14.3 billion) in managed assets for its UK business at the end of September 2019, up from £8.2 billion two years ago.

The group has carved out a flexible services model for entrepreneurial wealth managers wishing to start their own investment management businesses, including support with compliance and regulatory oversight, back office, and marketing.

“The innovative business model provides a safe and secure platform, allowing me to focus solely on providing clients with a truly bespoke service,” Burnham said of the franchise approach.

Newton Investment Management
Newton Investment Management has appointed Ilga Haubelt as head of equity opportunities in a newly created role. Haubelt will be based in London and report to Newton’s chief investment officer, Curt Custard.

She will manage a team of 10 responsible for all of Newton’s active equity strategies that are not managed on an income basis, the group said. These include its global, Asian, US, emerging, UK and European equity areas. Owned by BNY Mellon Investment Management, Newton recently split its equity business into two distinct hubs, managing equity income and equity opportunity, which, it said, has paved the way for the new post.

Haubelt is joining from Deka Investment, where she was head of global equities, overseeing a team of 23 and assets of more than £12 billion. She also managed the firm’s largest equity fund.