Weatherbys Private Bank, a family-owned firm which has traditionally provided services to the UK horseracing industry, is expanding into financial planning and investment services and has hired from private banks C Hoare & Co and Ansbacher and Co to spearhead the development.

Simon Tuck, formerly head of financial planning at C Hoare & Co, will be responsible for building Weatherbys' advisory service and advising clients on tax planning, trusts, pensions and insurance. Meanwhile, Roddy Buchanan, previously head of wealth management within the private banking operations of Ansbacher and Co, joins the firm as a senior private banker. He will also support the development of a discretionary investment service, which the bank is planning to launch this October.

Weatherbys was founded in 1770 and remains under the ownership of the Weatherby family; however, it changed from a family partnership to a limited company in 1994, when it acquired a deposit-taking licence from the UK regulator.

The bank reported an after-tax profit for 2009 of £1.54 million ($2.27 million) and a Tier 1 Capital ratio of 16.9 per cent at the end of last year. Its deposits increased by 40 per cent during the banking crisis of 2007 – 2008 due to its conservative, risk-averse approach, according to the firm.