Kingswood Holdings Limited, an international wealth and investment management company, has appointed three Business Development Managers.Paul Bolt joins Kingswood from Quilter Cheviot where he spent nearly a decade – both pre- and post the merger with Quilter – in a marketing and business development role and until recently as Professional Connections Director. Earlier in his career, he specialised in residential and private equity debt, founding his own brokerage in 2001. Known by friends and colleagues for his knowledge in wine, Paul has run over 100 events for clients over the last two years and was knighted as a Chevalier of the order of the Coteaux de Champagne in 2017.
Michael Fajardo has worked in financial services for nearly two decades, including time at RBS, Barclays Wealth and Scottish Widows, and has extensive experience dealing with HNW individuals. Most recently, he was Private Client Business Development Manager at 7IM for six years. Michael will help to develop relationships with professional intermediaries and affiliate partners as well as delivering Kingswood’s Financial Education programme in schools.
Clare Houghton brings a wealth of experience to Kingswood, with nearly 25 years as an independent financial adviser (IFA), including 19 years at HSBC as a Corporate IFA in their corporate banking centers in and around the West Midlands, advising both multi-million-pound turnover businesses in areas of risk and investment/tax planning and their owners’ personal wealth. She left HSBC to join Lighthouse Carrwood where she advised predominantly high net worth (HNW) private clients and corporate clients of MHA MacIntyre Hudson accountants in Leicester and Birmingham. She also gained significant experience working with alternative discretionary fund manager Ingenious in a business development capacity. Clare will help Kingswood to enhance its localised presence in supporting advisers in various offices across the UK.
Last month, Kingswood released strong financial results for the year ended 31 December 2019, with £10.1 million in total revenue, a 34 per cent increase on the prior year reflecting the impact of recent acquisitions. The firm also announced the completion of its acquisition of Sterling Trust Financial Consulting Limited, a major regional IFA platform, adding further breadth and scale to its distribution network which now includes 14 locations across the UK. This transformative transaction boosts Kingswood’s client facing advisory team to 62 people and increases funds under advice/management to GBP4.8 billion from circa 16,000 active clients in the UK and US.
Leigh Philpot, Head of Wealth at Kingswood, says: “We are thrilled to welcome Paul, Clare and Michael as Business Development Managers to Kingswood. Their significant expertise and experience will help us grow and enhance our wealth planning and investment management offering across the UK and beyond. The last eighteen months have been significant for the firm and we are expecting another milestone period this year. With ambitious growth plans, we are focused on providing high levels of personal and local service from our teams across the UK; Paul, Clare and Michael demonstrates our commitment to working with professional connections nationwide to deliver market-leading advice and solutions to clients.”
