Lamont takes charitable lead at Brewin Dolphin

CHARITY begins at home, so they say – but in Brewin Dolphin's case, it's starting in the office.

Lynne Lamont is joining the investment manager's Edinburgh office – formerly known as Bell Lawrie – as the firm's first head of charities for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Lamont moves to the firm after 12 years at Newton Investment Management, where she was "integral" in building up a business that managed assets of more than 250 million for Scottish charities.

Beginning her career in 1997, Lamont has managed funds for charities, private individuals, family trusts and pension funds. In recognition of her industry standing, she was appointed as a trustee of the Carnegie UK Trust last year, providing her financial and investment expertise to one of Scotland's leading independent foundations.

Henry Algeo, regional director for Scotland and Northern Ireland, said: "We are delighted to welcome someone of Lynne's calibre to the team. I have no doubt that her knowledge and expertise of the charity sector and her experience working as a trustee of the Carnegie UK Trust will help Brewin Dolphin remain at the forefront of charity investment."

In a busy week within the financial services sector, Nucleus Financial has snared Barry Neilson from F&C Investments.

Neilson joins the firm – which provides software to let independent financial advisers (IFAs) see all a client's investments through one programme – as its business development director, the same post that he held at F&C.

He will be responsible for leading the business development team, which has seen more than 60 IFA firms become owner-users of the platform. As a member of the executive team, he will report directly to chief executive David Ferguson.

Meanwhile, Alan Collins has joined the actuarial team at pensions administrator Spence & Partners in Glasgow. Collins' appointment – following a spell at Mercer HR Consulting – comes after Ian Campbell joined the firm as actuarial director in May.