The family-owned bank’s conservative approach is resonating with clients and producing strong returns and a raft of new hires.

Weatherbys Private Bank announced a series of new hires yesterday, building on recent strong growth. The most notable is Aidan Faik who joins as a senior private banker. Before moving to Weatherbys, Faik spent four years with C Hoare & Co and six years with Coutts.

Faik will be responsible for building a book of clients focused on banking, credit and investing, and will bring his “wider experience” to help run and grow the overall private banking offering, Weatherbys’ head, Quentin Marshall, said.

In other moves, Nathan Valbonesi takes up the position of paraplanner, bringing 18 years’ experience to the role. Jeneta Pearce-Hunt joins as a people manager responsible for the bank’s PR policy and people strategy. She brings with her 15 years’ teaching in the public sector before joining the private sector in 2000, where she held a number of senior roles in international human resources.

Lisa Wright shores up the HR presence, joining as talent executive responsible for all aspects of recruitment. Wright brings over 15 years’ HR experience to her new role.

Yesterday the bank also announced plans to expand its Scottish office with a lease signed on new premises that will double the space; and confirmed that businesswoman, Jacqui Low, will be joining its advisory board. Low has spent over 30 years in business, communications, media and politics, including her appointment as Scotland’s first female special advisor.

She recently added chair of Partick Thistle FC to her roster.

The Weatherbys group was founded in 1770 by solicitor James Weatherby and is one of only two wholly family-owned independent private banks in Britain. Just over a year ago this publication interviewed the bank about its wealth management strategy.

Marshall used the opportunity to reiterate the bank’s “conservative approach”  to investing as an independent “free from corporate constraints.”

He said the seventh-generation firm had come through the 2008 crisis unscathed and was prospering by attracting clients “who value a sensibly conservative and cautious approach to banking,” which is paying dividends.

Last year the bank reported pre-tax profits of £5.7 million; with group total assets increasing by 20 per cent to £759 million, he said in a statement.

He added that assets at the bank have doubled since 2013, with lending up by 160 per cent in the last five years, and by 21 per cent a year since 2010. Meanwhile, the bank’s loan-to-deposit ratio stands at 55 per cent.