Before joining Child & Child in 2023, Barter ran her own family law practice, Percival Rose & Co. She previously worked at Manches (now Pennington Manches Cooper), Farrer & Co and Speechly Bircham (now Charles Russell Speechlys). She trained at Stephenson Harwood. Barter also spent two years as judicial assistant in the Court of Appeal and family lawyer to Lady Butler-Sloss in the High Court Family Division.

With more than 30 years’ experience in family law, Barter specialises in advising high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals in complex financial remedy cases – including cross-border issues and complex asset structures – and in children matters. A trained mediator and collaborative lawyer, she also advises families on wealth protection structures including pre- and post-nuptial agreements and co-habitation agreements. Her clients have included landowners, business owners and entrepreneurs, politicians, sportspeople, medics, lawyers, and those in the arts and entertainment industry – both in the UK and overseas.

“We are very pleased to welcome Susie Barter to Burgess Mee,” Peter Burgess, senior partner at Burgess Mee, said. “Susie’s experience and insight will be an invaluable addition to our senior leadership team. Her appointment strengthens our commitment to delivering clear, pragmatic and strategic advice to our clients.”

RBC BlueBay Asset Management
UK-based , which represents RBC Global Asset Management outside North America, has made two additional senior hires for its presence in France. Suzanne Dos Santos Wahl has joined as head of institutional and Julien Jacquet as director business development financial institutions. Based in the firm’s Paris premisses, both will report into RBC BlueBay’s head of France, Doris Santillana.

Dos Santos Wahl has two decades of experience in institutional asset management, with expertise in investment strategy and client engagement. Most recently, she was head of business development at Prevaal Finance in Paris and, prior to that, she served in sales leadership and business development positions at Covea Finance and State Street Global Advisors. Dos Santos Wahl holds a degree from the University of Nanterre as well as a postgraduate degree from the Institute d’Administration des Enterprises (IAE).

Jacquet has more than 20 years of experience in asset management distribution and strategic client development. Previously, he was at Lazard Frères Gestion in Paris where he was head of consultant relations and RFP. Prior to this, Jacquet served in senior sales and client leadership roles across institutional and wholesale markets. He holds an executive MBA from École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris.

"Suzanne’s and Julien’s appointments are fantastic additions to our business,” Santillana said. “Their extensive industry experience and proven leadership in distribution will be invaluable as we strengthen our presence in the region. The appointments underscore our commitment to investing in talent and expanding our capabilities tailored to increasingly evolving client needs.”

Afin Bank
, newly-launched specialist lender driven by a strategy to serve the African community in the UK, has appointed Beth Jeffs as head of product and proposition.

Jeffs was previously senior mortgage propositions manager at the Nottingham Building Society. Before that she worked at providers including HSBC, Coventry Building Society and Sainsbury’s Bank in product and credit risk areas.

She will be responsible for the development strategy for the bank’s lending and savings propositions and overseeing the strategy of lending products for Afin’s target customer base of borrowers who struggle to get home loans from mainstream providers because their circumstances do not meet lenders’ inflexible product and affordability criteria. This includes the self-employed, people with multiple income streams, qualified professionals, high net worth borrowers and foreign nationals working in the UK on valid visas. The bank says it is also looking at how it can help other emerging customer segments.

Jeffs will report to Charles Resnick, chief financial officer for Afin Bank, who is taking on responsibility for the bank’s lending and savings strategy, overseeing a product roadmap for the bank. (See this interview about its strategy.)

“Beth is a key strategic addition to our team, bringing an important focus on the development of mortgages and savings accounts that combine Afin’s technical ability and understanding of the marketplace to create products that customers want and need, Resnick said. “Her experience of both the banking and mutual sectors is invaluable in helping us to balance our commercial objectives while ensuring we maintain our customer-first approach for people who are underserved in the UK.”