Financial Planning Standards Board

Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB) has announced new leadership positions to help drive forward the organization's mission to establish, uphold and promote worldwide professional standards in financial planning, with CFP certification its global symbol of excellence.

On 1 April 2023, FPSB board member Ana Cláudia Akie Utumi, CFP, ascended to the role of chairperson of the FPSB Board for a two-year term, succeeding Garry Muriwai. 

In this leadership role, Utumi representing more than 213,000 certified financial planners around the world. 

Utumi is the founding partner of Utumi Advogados in Brazil and has more than 30 years of experience in tax. 

In addition to heading up her own tax specialty legal practice, Utumi is professor of tax law at the University IBDT in São Paulo, guest lecturer at the University of Zurich, a member of the practice council of the NYU School of Law International Tax Program and member of the International Fiscal Association (IFA) Supervisory Board. She was also a founding board member of Planejar, FPSB's Affiliate organization in Brazil.

"It is an honor to step into the position of FPSB chairperson and I'm looking forward to working with my colleagues of the Board on our strategic priorities to advance the global profession and build awareness of the value and importance of financial planning, so more people around the world can access and benefit from it," said Utumi. 

"I would like to acknowledge and thank my predecessor, Garry Muriwai, who has been an exceptional leader and advocate for the financial planning profession, navigating the impacts of a global pandemic, overseeing the process of FPSB's first CEO transition in 20 years, and ensuring our CFP professional community continues to grow," added Utumi.

Muriwai served as FPSB board member since 2018, and chairperson since 2021, and was actively involved with the organization for nearly 15 years. Muriwai brought rich experience to FPSB in the areas of global governance and oversight in the delivery of international education programs which he gained in his previous board roles within the global accounting profession, as well as his leadership positions in the banking and finance sectors. 

In addition, FPSB board member Andrea Middel, CFP, began serving as FPSB board chairperson-elect for a two-year term, and Caroline Dabu and Brett Millard, CFP, CIM began three-year terms on FPSB's Board of Directors. 

Middel served as chairperson of the FPSB Professional Standards Committee (PSC) before embarking on her new role as chairperson-elect of the FPSB board.

With her transition to chairperson-elect, FPSB board member Darren McShane was appointed PSC chairperson. In this new capacity, McShane will oversee the Committee's work to uphold and improve the standards and certification requirements that benefit the public and ensure CFP certification continues to be recognized as the global symbol of excellence in financial planning. 
 
"I'm pleased to welcome new board members, Caroline and Brett, and new leaders on FPSB's governing body," said FPSB CEO Dante De Gori, CFP. "These talented individuals bring a vast amount of experience and knowledge from different parts of the world to propel our strategic priorities and mission forward. I look forward to working with them, our global network of organizations and our CFP professional community to advance the global financial planning profession, with CFP certification its symbol of excellence."

Fidelity

Punam Sharma has stepped back from co-managing the €1.3bn Fidelity Sustainable Emerging Markets Equity fund as of 31 March, Fidelity has confirmed.

Amit Goel remains the lead portfolio manager on the fund and will continue to benefit from the wider team's experience and insights, alongside Fidelity's proprietary research coverage across global emerging markets, the asset manager said in a statement.

The change will not impact the management of Fidelity's Sustainable Emerging Markets Equity fund, it added.

Sharma will remain at Fidelity and will increase the time spent dedicated to her role as director of research, helping to enhance the depth and breadth of Fidelity's research capabilities in the Latin American and EMEA regions. 

She continues to manage the Fidelity Funds Latin America fund, which she has run since 2019.

Sharma joined Fidelity in 2016 as director of research for Asia Pacific ex-Japan, according to her Linkedin profile, having begun her career in asset management in 2000.

Suntera Global 

Suntera Global has appointed Kathryn Wilkinson as head of operations as part of the firm's continued focus on its strategic growth ambitions.

In her new role, she will provide critical operational support to the Jersey office. She joins Suntera with more than 25 years' experience in international financial services, with expertise spanning a number of disciplines including compliance, change management, risk and governance across the banking and investment fund sectors. 

Immediately prior to joining Suntera, she held the position of director of central operations at the Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) where she played a key role in the successful implementation of a new registry system and acted as a vital liaison point for industry.

Mark Reynolds, chief operating officer, Suntera Global said: "It is a pleasure to welcome Kathryn to the Suntera family. Her significant experience gained over more than two decades of working in international financial services will undoubtedly add real value to the business. She will play an instrumental role both in supporting the objectives of our Jersey office and working with our multijurisdictional teams to help us realise our shared ongoing growth ambitions."

Partners Capital 

Partners Capital, an outsourced investment office managing over $48bn of assets for clients globally, has appointed Euan Finlay as Head of EMEA. He also joins the Partners Capital Executive Committee. 

In this role, Finlay will oversee the business across the EMEA region, including the mentorship of the senior investment team and the execution of strategic growth initiatives. He will continue to be a member of the Global Investment Committee. 
Finlay joined Partners Capital from Goldman Sachs in 2009, where he worked in their investment banking division focused on mergers and acquisitions. 

"Euan's contributions to our firm have been enormous. He has had a meaningful impact on our investment programme over the years, particularly our private market investments, whilst managing the portfolios of many of our largest clients, both institutions and families", said Arjun Raghavan, CEO. "This is a natural evolution of our European leadership team and forms a key part of our long-term succession strategy." 

"I am honoured to take this role and continue to build our business in the EMEA region through the provision of bespoke, risk managed, multi-asset class portfolios on behalf of endowments, foundations, investment professionals and families. We believe that our investment strategy is particularly well suited for the current environment of heightened macroeconomic volatility" added Finlay. 

Finlay succeeds John Collis, who will be retiring after 19 years with the firm. Will Jagger will assume responsibility for the management of the London office, the largest of Partners Capital's 7 offices, with over 160 employees. Jaggerl joined Partners Capital in 2010 having previously worked at L.E.K Consulting in London and Shanghai. He leads the implementation of the Partners Capital investment program across bespoke client portfolios, whilst managing the portfolios of many of the firm's largest clients in Europe. 

"We are hugely grateful for all that John has contributed to the firm over the course of his long career. He has been an integral part of our European business and global firm leadership for almost two decades, and we wish him a very happy retirement", said Raghavan. 

Evelyn Partners 

Evelyn Partners has bolstered its Edinburgh office with the appointment of Duncan Arthur as financial planning director. 

Arthur, who holds Chartered Financial Planner status, oins from Blackadders Wealth Management in Dundee where he was director of Financial Planning and worked for more than five and a half years. 

The news of his appointment follows David Rankin joining Evelyn Partners earlier this year as Managing Partner with responsibility for its Edinburgh and Aberdeen offices.

Rankin said: "We are committed to growing the strength of the team in the region and Duncan brings with him a high level of experience, which will add to the quality team we already have in place." 

Marlborough 

Marlborough has made two senior appointments to support its ambitious plans for growth.

Danny Knight has been appointed commercial director, with an initial focus on further strengthening Marlborough's multi-asset investment proposition for financial advisers in the UK and internationally.

The current range of UK-domiciled multi-asset solutions, which consists of 21 actively managed MPS portfolios and four multi-asset funds, may be expanded with new product launches. The scope of Knight's role will also include the Marlborough Group's multi-asset fund ranges domiciled in Dublin and Guernsey.

In addition, his brief is to identify how Marlborough and the wider Marlborough Group can further enhance and develop the other services they offer advisers. These include Marlborough's range of single-strategy funds; the Marlborough Group's Select Platform, which is an investment platform for advisers and their clients; and IFSL Fund Services, which provides authorised corporate director (ACD) services to enable advisers to launch their own funds.

Knight has almost 25 years' experience in financial services. He joined Marlborough on 6th March after nearly 10 years at Quilter Investors (and its previous incarnation Old Mutual), where he was Director of Multi-Asset and latterly Head of Investment Proposition. Prior to that he was at Henderson Global Investors, which he joined when the company acquired New Star Asset Management.

Marlborough's CEO, Richard Goodall, said: "Danny brings a wealth of asset management experience and an impressive track record of working with intermediaries to help them grow their businesses. It's a valuable combination of skills, which has enabled him to help design and launch highly successful outsourced investment solutions.

"At Marlborough, we're continuing to develop our multi-asset solutions and Danny's expertise will play an important role in ensuring these propositions, and our other products and services, continue to serve the evolving needs of intermediaries and their clients."

Knight said: "Marlborough has a well-deserved reputation for investment excellence and a very strong focus on working in partnership with advisers to enable them to achieve first-class outcomes for their clients. 
"My role will be to build on our capability in both of these areas, identifying opportunities to further strengthen our range of investment solutions and other services, so our adviser partners can continue to succeed by delivering great value for their clients."

Knight reports to Martin Ratcliffe, Group Sales Director for the Marlborough Group.

Nathan Sweeney has been appointed as Marlborough's chief investment officer of Multi-Asset, following Sheldon MacDonald's promotion to chief investment officer in January.

Sweeney, who has more than 20 years' investment management experience, joined Marlborough as deputy CIO of Multi-Asset in 2021. His previous roles include more than 10 years at Architas, where he helped grow the multi-asset business to around £5.7 billion of assets under management.

Marlborough's CEO, Richard Goodall, said: "Nathan is an outstanding investment professional who combines a detailed understanding of asset allocation and fund selection with tremendous energy and the all-important ‘can-do' attitude that embodies our approach at Marlborough.

"We've already taken important steps in building the multi-asset side of our business and Nathan will play a key role in continuing and accelerating this ambitious growth."

Sweeney said: "It's a great privilege to be taking the helm of such a talented multi-asset team, who share a common commitment to ensuring we deliver first-class outcomes for investors.

"This an exciting time at the Marlborough Group. We've just launched the Select Platform, and we're having positive conversations with a growing number of advisers, who are attracted to our multi-asset investment solutions because of the strength of our investment process, the experience of our team and the robust nature of our governance frameworks.

"We're also very aware of the cost pressures facing advisers and that Consumer Duty places a significant focus on achieving value for clients. So, we're offering our MPS service for a very competitive annual fee. In addition, we're committed to continuing our high-quality engagement with advisers to share our insights into the ever-evolving investment landscape."

Sweeney will continue to report to Marlborough's CIO, Sheldon MacDonald.

Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management

Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management has named Duncan Stratford with immediate effect as newly-created managing director of its UK wealth planning and investment management divisions.  

Stratford's promotion to managing director after 20 years at the firm follows his contribution to the integrations of Hargreave Hale, McCarthy Taylor, Thomas Miller, Adam & Company and most recently, Punter Southall Wealth. 

David Esfandi, CEO of CGWM said: "Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management's exceptional growth trajectory has led to the requirement for this role - and Duncan makes a perfect managing director. 

"The momentum we have built through the collaboration between our investment management and financial planning teams, puts us in an excellent position to harness our expertise for our clients and capitalise on opportunities to sustainably grow our business."