The world of Scottish wealth management, already busy with a number of merger moves and hires, took another twist when Société Générale Private Banking Hambros opened a new office in Edinburgh, its first such office in Scotland, it said yesterday.

The new Edinburgh office marks the first venture of the private bank in Scotland, the bank said.

Mike Smith and Christopher Thomson will head the Edinburgh office. Both have served the Scottish market for many years. Smith, born in the US, has been providing investment and financial advice to international private clients for over 20 years. He worked for the Citibank Private Bank and Smith Barney in Washington DC for 15 years before joining Merrill Lynch International Bank in London and then in Edinburgh in 1998. Following Merrill Lynch, Smith founded the Kleinwort Benson Private Bank operation in Scotland, before joining SGPB Hambros in October, 2008.

Thomson joined SGPB Hambros in October 2008, also from Kleinwort Benson, where he started in 2005 and worked alongside Smith. A native of Edinburgh, he spent twelve years in investment banking, holding various capital markets positions with Barclays Capital and Toronto Dominion Securities, dividing his time between New York and London. 

SGPB Hambros operates from London, Newbury, Cambridge, Manchester, Southampton and Leeds, as well as internationally from Jersey, Guernsey and Gibraltar.

In recent days, there have been a number of stories around wealth management in Scotland. For example, Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management has reshuffled its leadership team in Scotland, making two new internal appointments in Glasgow and Edinburgh.  Helvetia Wealth, the Zurich-based wealth management firm, purchased the Scottish financial advisory firm Dunedin Independent in a deal reported to be worth about £4 million (around $6.14 million).