The latest moves and appointments in wealth management in the UK, the rest of Europe, the Middle East and other select locations.

Bentley Reid
London-headquartered Bentley Reid, an employee-owned wealth manager, has appointed Paul O’Neill as chief investment officer. Based in its London HQ, he will take over from Peter Clark, who has been appointed chief executive officer.

Previously O’Neill (pictured) was head of UK asset management and research at Butterfield Private Bank in London for five years and before that he was portfolio manager of the Talisman Value Fund at Talisman Global Asset Management, and a portfolio manager at Slater Investments.

Most recently O’Neill worked as a strategic change project manager for Schroders, Hermes and Fidelity, including leading the Schroders Private Wealth ESG project and launching the new Public Private Assets fund for Fidelity.

O’Neill graduated in law from Leeds University and passed his bar finals at the Inn of Court School of Law. He also holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Founded in 1979, Bentley Reid is an independently-owned wealth management company which looks after the financial affairs of wealthy individuals, their families, trusts and charities. The London-based business offers family office services, wealth planning, trust, investment management, and investment advice from offices in the UK, Hong Kong and Malta.

Brown Shipley
Wealth manager Brown Shipley, whose parent company is Quintet Private Bank, has strengthened its office in Leeds by appointing two experienced client advisors to join the team led by Mark Flynn, head of Edinburgh and Leeds.

Lisa Morrison and Amir Bayram’s appointments follow the recent promotion of Tom Fleming to Leeds-based client advisor, bolstering Brown Shipley’s proposition in Yorkshire.

For eight years since 2011, Morrison has worked at UBS Wealth Management as a client advisor serving high net worth individuals and their families. Earlier, she held various advisory and relationship management positions at the Bank of Ireland and Anglo Irish Bank.

Bayram is joining from Royal Bank of Canada, where he served as a relationship manager for five years, responsible for the origination and client management of HNWI clients and their families. Earlier, he was a senior private banker at Lloyds Banking Group, where he started his career.

“Both bring extensive experience advising high net worth clients, entrepreneurs and business owners. They will be integral in supporting our strategic growth and focus on ensuring we best meet each client’s wealth management needs,” Calum Brewster, CEO of Brown Shipley said.

Brown Shipley, dating back to 1810, offers clients “informed” financial advice and tailored services on all aspects of wealth planning, investment management and lending. It has offices in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, Edinburgh, Norwich and Nottingham.

Quantuma
Cross-border advisory firm Quantuma has appointed senior restructuring specialist Merish Gujadhur as an associate director in its British Virgin Islands team.

Previously Gujadhur was at the Mauritius offices of a Big 4 firm where he spent almost a decade working as a senior member of their business recovery services and forensics team. His recent experience includes leading the high-profile liquidation of the Mauritian structure of a private equity firm operating in six continents which collapsed following complaints of fraud and racketeering. Gujadhur, who is a chartered accountant with a legal background, also led the winding up of a fund structure with an investment constituting one of India’s largest private harbour and seaport management services companies. The operation culminated in successfully disposing the investment to one of India’s wealthiest conglomerates.

Gujadhur's "cross-border restructuring experience in a range of jurisdictions in Asia and Africa means he is a great addition to our team,” Caribbean lead and managing director Stephen Briscoe said.

His appointment – the latest in a series of senior hires across Quantuma’s international offices – follows the firm’s appointments of forensic accounting specialist and managing director, Ahmad Chit in the Middle East; restructuring specialist, head of Caribbean and managing director, Stephen Briscoe in the Caribbean; restructuring expert and managing director, Nigel Smith in the Middle East; and former HSBC Middle East regional head of litigation and regulatory enforcement for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey region Lynsey Gregory, who joined as general counsel for Quantuma’s parent company, K3 Capital Group Ltd.

In February 2023, K3 Capital Group was acquired by an affiliate of Sun European Partners, LLP.