Former Morgan Stanley Private Wealth adviser Indre Butkeviciute has set up a family office business in London targeting foreign high net worth individuals with at least £5m to £10m of investable assets.
Centaurus Family Office was formed last November and began managing money this year after becoming an appointed representative of Essex-based Basi and Basi Financial Planning, with all Financial Conduct Authority licensing going through Michael Basi’s firm.
After Morgan Stanley’s retreat from the European wealth space - selling its Europe, the Middle East and African arm to Credit Suisse and Swiss private banking business to Bank J. Safra Sarasin last spring - Ms Butkeviciute took several of her clients with her to the new venture.
She has already built a client base of between five and ten clients which will be capped at between 30 to 50 in order to maintain a high quality of service.
Currently a one-woman shop, more advisers and administrative staff will be brought on as the business grows towards that target.
Speaking to FTAdviser, Ms Butkeviciute said: “There is a lot of foreign money in London, with a variety of clients wanting a full tailored service to meet their specific needs.
“I want to build long-term relationships where I advise on not only investment and asset management, but also use my network to help with property, tax advice, lawyers, visas and child care.”
The move was also in response to the limited family office offering in the UK and relative homogeneity of the service offered by banks and asset managers to high net worth individuals, according to Ms Butkeviciute.
She said: “Given the size of their assets, I won’t be advising on things like pensions and annuities, my clients are concerned with larger things.”
Unlike a fixed fee offered by many advisers, she will charge based on the amount of assets and level of risk taken in the portfolio, with fees ranging from 0.30 basis points up to 3 per cent, but most falling “somewhere in the middle of that range”.
