Wealth advisory boutique Strabens Hall has appointed Adam Benskin as CEO, John Halley as Head of Legal, Financial and Compliance and Alistair Peel as Head of Investor Services as part of a reorganisation of the senior management team.
As CEO, Benskin will be responsible for driving the business forward, focusing on its strong market proposition and leading on relations with the Strabens Hall board and its external investors. His appointment will help the firm capitalise on its current fast growth and fulfil management’s exciting vision for the business.
Benskin will also take responsibility for overseeing the development of Strabens Hall’s Hong Kong office, which is an established and respected source of advice for both expatriate and local clients in a region where the pace of wealth creation is among the fastest globally.
Over the past 12 months, there has been a 50 per cent increase in the size of the team and revenue has grown by some 40 per cent. The firm’s expansion is being driven by the first-class team that Strabens Hall is continuing to build, which provides a wholly independent fee-based service of the highest quality to its growing global client base of entrepreneurs, business leaders, landed estate owners and non-doms.
Essentially Strabens Hall’s investment proposition can be split into two services, investment advisory and investment monitoring. Both now have extensive track records of delivering value and wealth enhancement to the firms’ clients and provide a firm foundation for future growth.
Benskin’s particular wealth advisory expertise focuses on advising wealthy individuals, families and owner-managed businesses on a wide range of strategic financial planning matters. He is a founding director of Strabens Hall, a certified financial planner and Fellow of the Personal Finance Society. Adam holds an MA in Modern History from Oxford University.
Halley is a founding director of Strabens Hall and advises clients on a wide range of complex issues. As Head of Investor Services, Alistair Peel has responsibility for the firm’s portfolio management, investment monitoring and consulting services.
This management re-organisation and the assignment of more clearly defined roles for the directors also helps Strabens Hall streamline its business and more efficiently pursue the opportunities for expansion it has identified both in the UK and Asia.
A testament to Strabens Hall’s recent growth and success was the firm being named, earlier this year, as ‘Financial Advisory Firm of the Year’ at CityWealth’s prestigious Magic Circle awards. Last year Strabens Hall celebrated its tenth anniversary and completed a strategic overhaul of the business, which has helped to deliver the strong growth the firm is currently experiencing.
Benskin says: “I’m delighted to have been appointed as Strabens Hall’s CEO at this very exciting time for the firm. We conducted a strategic review of the business last year and have refined and developed our proposition to better serve the evolving needs of our clients and take account of the most important developments in private wealth advisory. These appointments enhance our capabilities and play on the individual strengths of our senior management by utilising their skills in the most appropriate areas as well as harnessing their passion to drive the business forward.”
“Our unconflicted financial advice model of providing a fee-based service, which is not product led and with best advice delivered by an expert and dynamic team is rapidly gaining us clients both in the UK and overseas. I look forward to working with our board, investors and senior management team to further build Strabens Hall into a leading, international private wealth adviser respected for its integrity, the high quality of its advice and its strong client-focused culture.”
Alistair Peel, Head of Investor Services at Strabens Hall, says: “It’s great to have a wealth adviser of Adam’s calibre to lead the business. The private wealth management industry is changing fast offering many new opportunities and we need strong cohesive leadership to ensure we capitalise on this. Although investment management is becoming increasingly commoditised with significant amounts of money being committed to passive and tracker funds, there is still a strong role for financial planning in private wealth advisory. This is the core of our offer, with many of our clients having complex issues, could be experiencing significant changes in their lives, which often involve a raft of tax and multi-jurisdiction considerations and factors. In such situations careful, professional financial planning is vital. Our growth over the past 12 months shows that our approach is being very well received by the market and we look forward to accelerating our expansion over the rest of this year and beyond.”
