The latest moves, appointments and personnel changes among wealth management and related organisations in the UK, the rest of Europe, the Middle East, Africa and select international locations.

Oak Group
Stuart Dowding has joined international funds, private client and corporate services provider, the Oak Group, as group head of private client.

Based in Guernsey, Dowding will be responsible for overseeing the direction of Oak’s private client services across all jurisdictions including Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man and Mauritius, the firm said in a statement. He will lead a team of professionals who will also play a role in developing new business opportunities and cultivating relationships with clients and intermediaries.

With more than 30 years’ experience in the private wealth sphere, Dowding has gained working knowledge of trust and corporate structures. This has enabled him to support clients with matters ranging from family wealth asset protection planning to significant property portfolios, for both investment and development purposes. After building a career in Guernsey, Dowding relocated to Hong Kong and spent two years as the managing director of a trust company, before returning to Guernsey at the end of 2018.

Fladgate
London-based law firm Fladgate has just bolstered its family law team with the appointment of Rebecca Cockcroft as partner, starting from 27 August.

Cockcroft joined after a decade at Payne Hicks Beach, where she was head of family law from 2019 to 2024, the firm said in a statement. She will be reunited with her former Payne Hicks Beach colleagues â€“ Catherine Costley and Joshua Moger – who joined Fladgate as partners in December last year. Shivani Kerai, who is an associate in the family law team, has also joined the team. Cockcroft, who has more than 25 years of experience, is an expert in all areas of family law, including divorce, matrimonial finance, children, cohabitation, pre- and post-nuptial agreements and Hague Convention cases. She regularly advises on complex financial cases particularly those involving disputes or with international dimensions.

Fladgate is an expanding 99-partner law firm based in central London. Its central London private wealth team. which works for over 100 high net worth individuals, has made a number of hires recently, with its family team doubling in size in less than a year.

7IM
London and Edinburgh headquartered tech-driven wealth and investment management firm Seven Investment Management (7IM)] has just expanded its board with the appointment of Elizabeth (Libby) Chambers as independent non-executive director (INED).

Chambers has more than three decades of executive and board-level experience. Her career has spanned financial and professional services, strategy, digital transformation, product innovation and marketing. She has also served large public and private companies in the UK, US and internationally, the firm said in a statement. Chambers will split her time between the US (Colarado) and London.

In her new appointment, Chambers will bring insights to 7IM’s plans to continue the development of its platform. The appointment forms part of 7IM’s growth plans and commitment to innovation of its platform technology, following investment into the business by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan earlier this year to acquire a majority stake. Ontario Teachers' is a global investor with net assets of $255.8 billion, and offices in Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, San Francisco, Singapore and Toronto.

Chambers appointment follows a series of hires by 7IM this year, with further recruitment underway to bolster 7IM’s growth plan. See more commentary here.

Markland Hill Wealth
Northwest based IFA Markland Hill Wealth has added to its team: Walter Simpson, Nick Cronin and Ian Massey.

Simpson has joned from HCI Financial Services in Hawarden. Cronin, recently joined from Prosperity Wealth â€“ part of Fairstone Financial Management, based in Birmingham. Ian Massey, who is joining from Crosby St James’s Place as a partner firm Cockbain & Associates, specialises in advising medical professionals with all aspects of financial planning. He has almost 20 years’ experience.

Markland Hill Wealth, which operates as an independent financial advisory firm, has its head office in Waterloo, Merseyside.