The latest moves in the wealth management industry.

Raymond James 
Raymond James has appointed Nick Levens to offer wealth management services in Cumbria, operating under the name Raymond James, Kendal.

Levens will offer a personal discretionary investment management service, the firm said in a statement. 

He began his career in the financial services sector in 1996 at Prolific Unit Trust Managers Limited, before moving to London with Henderson Investors. In 2000 he moved back to Kendal to work at Gerrard (now Barclays Wealth) before spending the last 17 years at Sanlam Private Wealth (formally Border Asset Management).

Cazenove Capital
Cazenove Capital has appointed Alex Neilson as a portfolio manager in the Chester office in the northwest. 

Nielson, who previously worked at Cazenove Capital for four years, is re-joining after three years with Investec Wealth & Investment where he was an investment manager, responsible for the management of multi-asset private client investment portfolios. 

In his new role, Nielson will be responsible for managing the relationships with Cazenove’s IFA network across the northwestern region.

Brooks Macdonald
Brooks Macdonald Group, the UK wealth management firm, has appointed Dr Niall O’Connor as fund manager for the IFSL Brooks Macdonald Defensive Capital Fund, after the previous fund manager and group co-founder, Jon Gumpel, decided to step down.

O’Connor joined the firm in 2013 and has been deputy fund manager for DCF since 2016. He has over 20 years of investment experience, including leading the development of a range of derivative pricing and risk models for independent risk monitoring. His background includes five years as an analyst at Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank; he was also part of the Nevsky Capital team.

As lead DCF fund manager, O’Connor will report to Richard Spencer, group chief investment officer. 

Saranac Partners
Saranac Partners has appointed David Bloom as non-executive director, joining the board with immediate effect. Bloom is a partner at Noé Group, a family-run investment and asset management group specialising in real estate and technology-led investment and private equity. Noé Group has been a supportive investor in Saranac Partners since its inception.

Goldacre, the tech investment arm of Noé Group, was founded by Bloom in April 2012 to drive the growth of smart real estate and to be a link between traditional investment and emerging innovation.