One of the more prominent figures in the UK's wealth management sector is to retire. The team at WealthBriefing wish him well.

Richard Charnock, the chief executive of the discretionary business at abrdn the firm formerly known as Aberdeen Standard Investments, is retiring. Charnock, well known to this news service, will step down in April.

“I have been very privileged to lead the discretionary business since inception in 2007 and I remain proud of the team and of all they have achieved on behalf of our clients. However, I have decided to retire from abrdn in April this year – I will be leaving the business in very good hands with minimal changes which of course means that your primary contact will remain the same,” Charnock told colleagues in an email seen by this news service. 

Following a period of handover, David Driver will become head of discretionary business. He has been a director of the discretionary business at abrdn for 12 years and has served in discretionary investment management and private client leadership roles for over 20 years.

“Richard [Charnock] has been with the firm for many years, building up an extremely successful and well-respected discretionary business. He is known and admired across abrdn and the wider industry, and we wish him well in his retirement,” a spokesperson said.