Just over a year after WealthBriefing exclusively reported the launch of Vestra Wealth Management, the London-based firm is celebrating having attracted in excess of £1 billion in new assets in the past 12 months.

Passing the $1 billion-mark is a key milestone in Vestra’s development – the firm having begun life in controversial circumstances, launching at the height of the financial crisis and becoming embroiled in a bruising legal dispute with UBS over staff defections to the new start-up.

Vestra was founded in September 2007 by David Scott, a former UBS employee who sold his Scott Goodman Harris IFA business to the Swiss bank in February 2004. Vestra then hit the headlines in May 2008 after some 50 client-facing and support staff resigned from UBS to join the new firm – prompting UBS to seek an injunction preventing defecting staff from taking valuable clients with them.

The case was settled by a judgement in August 2008: UBS dropped its case on condition that staff who were not already then in role at Vestra did not begin work there until April 2009.

“We have managed to attract some of the best people within the industry, combining our investment expertise with a personal service where the individual is placed at the forefront of the business. Reaching this milestone is a very significant vote of confidence from clients who appreciate the transparency of our investment process. Vestra has been particularly successful in attracting a wide range of discerning entrepreneurial clients with strong support from professional intermediaries,” said Mr Scott, managing partner.