Brewin Dolphin takes team of 7 from Adam & Co

WEALTH manager Brewin Dolphin has lured a seven-strong investment team from private bank Adam & Company, adding to a stream of recent departures from the troubled Royal Bank of Scotland-owned firm.

The Adam & Co Glasgow-based specialists, headed by Stephen Martin, are expected to join Brewin in January following the completion of their contracts.

Martin, along with Gordon MacDonald and Michael Wedderburn, joined Adam & Co in 2001 after leaving Clydesdale Bank.

The others are Graeme Smith, Wilson Leggatt and assistants Gillian Keegan and Ashley Leese.

Charlotte Black, director of corporate affairs for Brewin Dolphin, said she "could not deny" that the investment team was joining the firm.

"We are really delighted. It is a fantastic team. But for the moment they are under contract to Adam & Co, so we will be making an announcement in due course," she said.

A spokesman for Adam & Co confirmed the seven had resigned but the bank was currently in negotiations with the team about their departure.

It is understood the team will have meetings next week with Adam & Co investment director Harry Morgan and RBS Wealth co-chief investment officer Gayle Schumacher, who will try to persuade them to remain at the firm for longer to ensure a smooth transition for clients.

The spokesman said: "It is sad to lose good people but the Glasgow team remain in place for now and will strive to ensure continuity of service for clients.

"We will rebuild the team and we have, in fact, already recruited a number of experienced investment professionals to ensure we maintain the levels of service that our clients expect.

"Adam is part of a global wealth division which has over 200 investment professionals and we can call on the breadth and depth of the wider team.

"Encouragingly, investment performance this year has been excellent and assets under management are close to an all-time high."

Currently the bank's West George Street offices in Glasgow employs 25, but the departures are the latest in a stream of defections.

In August, the bank's chief executive, David Cathie, left and Niall Kennedy, one of its most senior investment directors, joined rival wealth manager Cazenove.

Cathie has been temporarily replaced by Kerry Falconer, a former assistant to Sir Fred Goodwin. She was appointed as interim managing director.

William Kirkwood, Adam & Co's head of private client investment administration, and Ross McDonald, its head of investment operations, left in April to set up a rival back-office administration firm, IM Wealth Services, on Edinburgh's Multrees Walk.

Last year, Adam & Co's former chief investment officer, Gareth Howlett, took with him a team of three to start an Edinburgh office for wealth management firm Brooks Macdonald.The firm has also lost charity specialist Amanda Forsyth to Charlotte Square, assistant fund manager Neil Mitchell who left for Cavendish Asset Management and investment director Simon Steele who joined Merrill Lynch.

Although the bank maintains its commitment to expansion, RBS has forced it to slim down its operations to work more closely with RBS-owned private bank Coutts.

In September, Adam & Co announced 130 lay-offs in its back office. A spokesman for RBS said at the time the redundancies were the "unfortunate" consequence of its decision to roll out new technology aimed at streamlining different operating systems.

The bank also introduced a 40-per-month charge for clients who have less than 250,000 on deposit, a move that drew criticism from longstanding customers.