HSBC

HSBC has named Mathieu Forcioli in a new role as the global and Asia-Pacific head of alternatives, under the bank's investments and wealth solutions division for its wealth and personal banking business.

Forcioli, who will be based in Hong Kong, will join HSBC on 1 September from Antarctica Asset Management in Hong Kong where he is head of Antarctica Private, responsible for the private markets offering globally.

He previously set up and grew the Asia operations of Moonfare. Before that, he served in a variety of leadership roles at UBS, including leadership of the wealth management private markets distribution team and the institutional investments group for APAC. 

He will report to Jan-Marc Fergg, global head of ESG and managed solutions, IWS and Stefan Lecher, regional head of IWS, Asia-Pacific.

Financial Conduct Authority

The Financial Conduct Authority has appointed Helen Charlton and Andy Mielczarek to chair its statutory panels. 

Charlton will be chair of the Financial Services Consumer Panel, and Mielczarek the chair of the FCA smaller business practitioner panel, succeeding Wanda Goldwag and Marlene Shiels respectively.

Their new roles will last for three years, beginning on 1 June 2022.

The statutory panels were set up to make and maintain effective arrangements for consulting consumers and practitioners on the extent to which the FCA's general policies and practices are consistent with its general duties, it said.

Previously, Charlton worked as a solicitor at the start of her career, and also served as a member of the Customer Challenge Group for Thames Water and a consumer advocate at the Consumer Council for Water. 

She currently holds three roles: chair of the British Gas Energy Trust; NED on the board of the Retail Energy Code Company; and The Henry Smith Charity, which provides grants to reduce social and economic disadvantage.

Charlton said: "The Panel has such an important role in representing the interests of consumers in the financial services sector. This is particularly pertinent now, when consumers are under pressure due to the cost of living.

"And within the financial services sector, there are important developments such as the FCA's new consumer duty and the challenges and opportunities posed by new technologies."
Mielczarek is a chartered accountant who founded Chetwood Financial, a UK digital bank focused on consumer lending and retail savings. Prior to starting Chetwood, he worked for HSBC in various roles across product and proposition, latterly as head of distribution for HSBC UK.

Sacker & Partners

Sacker & Partners LLP (Sackers), the UK specialist law firm for pensions and retirement savings, has hired William Earl, Aaron Zack, Katie Whitford and Jack McCahill as associates. 

Their arrival takes the total number of qualified lawyers at Sackers to 60.  

David Saunders, senior partner at Sackers, said: "Investing in recruiting new lawyers so that we can deliver a well-rounded, high quality and cost effective service is a vital part of our client offering. We are delighted to welcome Will, Aaron, Katie and Jack to Sackers."  

William Earl joins from Eversheds where he qualified into their pensions team in 2021. Aaron Zack trained and qualified at HSF last year and Jack McCahill trained and qualified within the Government Legal Department. At Sackers, William, Aaron and Jack will be advising trustees and employers on a wide range of defined benefit and defined contribution issues. 

Katie Whitford joins from Stephenson Harwood and has over four years' experience as a pensions lawyer. She joins Sackers market leading Know-how team, whose responsibility it is to keep Sackers lawyers and clients up to date with all developments in the pensions world. 

Quilter 

Quilter has appointed Neeta Atkar as a non-executive director and chair of the Board Risk Committee. 

Atkar will join the Quilter Board and become a member of the Board Audit Committee, the Board Risk Committee and the Board Technology and Operations Committee on 11 August 2022. 

After completion of her induction as a Quilter Board member, Atkar will become the Chair of the Board Risk Committee with effect from 1 October 2022. 

George Reid will continue to chair the Board Risk Committee until Ms Atkar is appointed to the role.

Atkar has a deep understanding of risk and regulation having spent her executive career working at the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority before taking on roles in the financial services industry with Andersen Consulting, Abbey National, Royal & Sun Alliance, Lloyds Banking Group and TSB Bank where she was the Chief Risk Officer. 

She is currently a Non-executive Director and chairs the risk committees of British Business Bank plc (where she is also the Senior Independent Director), Nomura Europe Holdings plc and Yorkshire Building Society.  
              
Crestbridge Group 

Alex Le Quesne has been appointed to the role of group head of governance services as part of Crestbridge Group's ongoing commitment to quality and service.

In his new role, he will be responsible for managing the operational and financial performance of its Institutional Governance Services globally, including Management Company, Director, Client Compliance, Depository, Trustee, Appointed Representative and Operator services. 

Le Quesne will oversee the selective growth of the business's Governance Services solutions aligned to meet the growing needs of its clients, helping to ensure Crestbridge's ongoing commitment to quality and service. He will also lead the implementation and evolution of key technology platforms to support the evolving governance services capabilities. 

He has 18 years' industry experience, the last seven of which have been with Crestbridge where he led and developed the highly successful Real Estate Fund Services team. Previously Alex was a director of a corporate trustee which acted for both regulated and unregulated property unit trusts, holding over £10bn assets. 

Prior to joining Crestbridge Alex was employed by a major global bank and has significant experience in both Real Estate and Corporate Finance. 

IQ-EQ 

Sanaa Hira, an experienced ESG investment analyst, has been named as IQ-EQ's new sustainability manager. This newly created role comes as the Group continues to develop its environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda.  

Prior to joining IQ-EQ, Hira spent seven years at an independent asset management company where she held information analysis and consulting roles. Most recently, she was an ESG investment analyst, responsible for assessing the ESG needs of potential investments, including assessing the environmental, social and governance risks of portfolio companies. 

In her new role, she will be responsible for supporting the set-up and delivery of IQ-EQ's sustainability strategy, working closely with Mark Harland, the Group's Head of Sustainability. 

Irwin Mitchell 

Irwin Mitchell has expanded its wealth management team with the acquisition of Cheshire based TWP Wealth as it seeks to expand its range of wealth services available to clients. 

TWP Wealth is a Chartered Financial Planning company based in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, and provides a wide range of financial services and financial planning to both private and corporate clients. Completion of the transaction is subject to approval by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

TWP's current management team and staff will spearhead Irwin Mitchell's wealth management arm and join forces with IM Asset Management which currently provides a full suite of financial planning and investment management services.

In addition to continuing the market-leading support provided to Complex Personal Injury (CPI) clients through IM Asset Management, the acquisition of TWP will build Irwin Mitchell's wealth services scale and capabilities, enabling the business to meet the needs of existing and new clients across the entire legal services lifecycle. 

IM Asset Management currently has c.£1bn assets under management (AUM) and the acquisition of TWP Wealth will add a further c.£100m AUM as well as giving Irwin Mitchell further scale in financial planning capability and an expanded leadership team to help the existing management focus on growing the business.

Andrew Tucker, Group CEO at Irwin Mitchell, said:  "We have a successful business, focused on delivering life-time value for clients.

Our clients trust us with their legal services at a time of change in their lives or their business - whether through a personal injury or divorce, or they may have sold a business or be looking to secure their families future through estate and tax planning. 

"All of these events require financial advice and by bringing TWP Wealth on board, this gives us enhanced expertise for our clients, an increased client-base and further opportunities to cross-sell our legal services and meet their multiple needs."

Richard Potts, CEO at IM Asset Management, said: "We already have a growing wealth management business but the addition of the TWP Wealth team gives us the opportunity to attract more clients from outside of Irwin Mitchell who come direct for our wealth management and financial planning services. 

Mark Shotton, managing director at TWP Wealth, who will head up the wealth management service, said: "Irwin Mitchell is a really unique business with significant potential to build the brand beyond legal services and into financial planning and wealth management. Our values and approach to clients are very similar: treating them as people and working collaboratively to create tailored lifetime financial plans which work for them. We're excited to begin working with the team."