James Hambro & Partners has hired Seven Investment Management’s former head of wealth management to head up a new Edinburgh office.
Alex Montgomery (pictured), who joined JH&P on Monday as a partner, was joint chief executive at Tcam Asset Management, which managed more than £1bn of assets for clients before it was acquired by 7IM in 2018. He left 7IM a year later.
Earlier this month, Portfolio Adviser revealed that Montgomery’s former Tcam business partner Haig Bathgate was also leaving 7IM.
In a press release JH&P said the Edinburgh office is expected to open in April. It will be the firm’s second regional office after former Aberdeen Standard manager Aidan Butler opened the first, in Leeds, last year. The company’s head office is in the St James’s area of London.
JH&P chief executive Andy Steel said Montgomery has “great experience, impeccable connections and is an outstanding addition to the team”.
“We’ve been looking to open an office in Scotland for some time, but this isn’t just about a good geographical opportunity,” he added. “We’ve known each other professionally for a long time, and there’s a good cultural fit here – Alex shares the JH&P values.”
Steel said the pandemic had encouraged people to rethink how they live and work and while video conferencing has been enormously helpful, it can’t ever completely replace face-to-face interaction.
“The opening of these two offices makes it easier to serve the growing number of clients we have in the Midlands, the North and Scotland. It also opens up opportunities for some of our London staff with families who are interested in moving out of the capital.”
Montgomery said JH&P’s independent partnership structure was a key attraction.
“The business doesn’t have to meet arbitrary targets set by an owner, so it focuses on the long term and doing what matters – delivering great service and performance,” he said.
JH&P said it expected to make more hires for the Edinburgh office.
Montgomery said: “We want to have the capacity to deliver all the firm’s services from the Edinburgh office, so that will mean recruiting experienced and capable financial planning and investment professionals and support staff.”
