The latest moves and appointments for wealth management roles in the UK, and other parts of Europe, the Middle East and select international locations.

Apex Group
Apex Group, a global financial services provider with more than $3.5 trillion in assets serviced, has appointed Nick Tomadakis as chief product officer, based in London.

In this newly-created role, he brings more than 20 years of experience leading product strategy, innovation and digital transformation across global financial institutions and fintech businesses. Reporting to Apex Group founder and CEO Peter Hughes, Tomadakis will lead the group's global product strategy, oversee its evolving technology-enabled solutions, and help drive the firm's growth.

He has held senior fintech product leadership positions at Rakuten Viber, Revolut, Barclays and Visa Europe. Most recently, Tomadakis served as chief product and growth officer at DCM Systems, where he was involved with tokenisation and next-generation payment infrastructure. Throughout his career, he has built and scaled products serving millions of users across multiple markets. Tomadakis has led large-scale transformation initiatives and launched market-leading solutions spanning payments, digital banking, regulatory technology, artificial intelligence, digital assets and tokenisation. His experience combines financial services and technology expertise with a strong track record of delivering innovation in highly regulated environments, the firm said in a statement.

Charles Russell Speechlys
Charles Russell Speechlys has appointed Philip O’Riordan as a partner and head of its corporate practice in the Middle East, based in the firm’s Dubai office.

Prior to this, O’Riordan was a partner for 20 years at Clyde & Co, previously heading its Middle East corporate practice. During his time at Clyde & Co, he helped to established and develop the firm’s Saudi Arabian practice from its inception in 2011.

He is joined by legal director Afraz Hussain, who also joins from Clyde & Co in Dubai. Dual-qualified in England and Wales and India, Hussain has more than 14 years’ experience, including over a decade in the UAE, advising on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity and other strategic corporate transactions.

Among recent hires and moves across the firm’s international footprint are those of corporate partners James Paterson and Nadim Meer in London, litigation and dispute resolution partner Luca Beffa and tax partner Frédéric Ney in Geneva, real estate partner Chiara del Frate in London, as well as Marguerite Brac de La Perrière as the first-ever IT, data and AI partner in Paris and its first corporate tax partner Paolo Rampulla in Milan.

In Asia, the firm recently appointed Kevin Lee as head of private client, along with his team including partner Wei Kang. The firm also opened offices in New York and Connecticut in July, and promoted nine lawyers to its partnership in May.

PIMFA
PIMFA, the UK trade association representing the wealth management, financial advice, and financial planning profession, has welcomed Dan Boardman-Weston (pictured below), chief executive of BRI, to its board of directors.

Dan Boardman-Weston

He was appointed CEO of BRI, an independently-owned wealth management firm based in the Midlands, in 2022. Boardman-Weston joined BRI in 2011 and progressed through a number of investment management roles before becoming chief investment officer in 2019. Boardman-Weston is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment and holds an MBA from Warwick Business School.

Boardman-Weston has been recognised by various groups and has been awarded the Institute of Directors’ West Midlands, Young Director of the Year. Outside BRI, Boardman-Weston is a trustee of the Heart of England Community Foundation and chairman of a charitable trust

“His experience and perspective as a leader of a growing regional wealth management firm which he transformed from an investment management to [a] financial planning-led business,” Liz Field, chief executive of PIMFA, said. “Dan has already made a valuable contribution to PIMFA’s advocacy work through his involvement in our working groups and key stakeholder meetings. We look forward to benefiting from his insight and experience as we continue to represent and support our members across the industry.”