CompaniesDec 7 2015

Fairstone poaches trio to boost Scottish offices

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Fairstone poaches trio to boost Scottish offices

Fairstone Financial Management has hired a trio of advisers from Edinburgh-based Origen Financial Services to boost its offices north of the border.

Richard Mein, Michael Archibald and Paul Johnson will establish an additional team in Edinburgh - having been there since 2012 when Spence & Spence joined the group - building on the existing offices in Dundee, Glasgow and Fife.

Mr Mein brings 25 years’ experience as an IFA, with particular expertise in providing corporate advice, as well as specialising in investments and pensions. Prior to joining Fairstone, he was advising in the medical market for Aviva and General Accident, before spending seven years as a wealth management adviser with Clydesdale Bank.

Mr Archibald has 20 years’ experience as an IFA, specialising in pensions, investments and tax planning. Prior to this, he spent nine years as a wealth management adviser at Clydesdale Bank and another nine as a broker consultant at Scottish Equitable.

Finally, Mr Johnson brings 20 years’ experience in investment, pensions and tax planning. He previously spent six years as a wealth management consultant at Bank of Scotland, a year as a wealth manager for Clydesdale Bank and 14 years as a financial planning consultant for Standard Life.

Lee Hartley, chief executive of Fairstone, said the group is always looking for ambitious candidates and prides itself on supporting advisers to grow and develop professionally through the likes of the academy programme.

Mr Archibald added that he was attracted to having the ability to select the services and support appropriate for the business, rather than having to accept the “vanilla version” on offer from elsewhere.

“This, along with a competitively priced proposition, helped convince us that Fairstone was exactly what we were looking for.”

This time last week, Fairstone acquired Zimb Johnson Bespoke Financial Planning, adding £135m assets under management and around 220 clients.

Mr Hartley previously told FTAdviser that it’s currently a sellers market for advisory firms, although many are nowhere near ready to be bought. “Most firms are just not in a position to be acquired, as their management structures are poor and they have a lot of legacy issues to sort through,” he explained.

The national is now made up of 230 advisers and 58 staff, acting for over 30,000 clients. It has £5.7bn of funds under advice, with £2.4bn of funds under management.

peter.walker@ft.com