Former senior staff in the investment administration unit of Edinburgh-based private bank Adam & Co are establishing a competing service using many other former employees, according to Citywire.

RBS-owned Adam & Co’s head of private client investment administration William Kirkwood and head of investment operations Ross McDonald left in April. And since then, more than 20 people, about two-thirds of the investment administration staff, have departed, the report states.

Most of these are believed to have followed Kirkwood and McDonald to IM Wealth Services, a custody and administration business recently set up by Information Mosaic.

An IM spokesperson is quoted as saying: “Our strategy has always been to recruit business-level people from within the [wealth management] industry to inform strategy and technology development.”

Adam & Co said it is managing the departures by using resources from elsewhere in RBS's wealth division.