Towry GroupJan 15 2018

Ex-Towry chief Fisher joins Smith & Williamson

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Ex-Towry chief Fisher joins Smith & Williamson

Andrew Fisher has been appointed to the board of Smith & Williamson as a non-executive director with immediate effect.

Mr Fisher served as chief executive of Towry and Coutts as well as, more recently, a non-executive director of private bank, C Hoare & Co. 

He succeeds Bob Bogart, who retired as a non-executive director of Smith & Williamson Holdings Ltd last year.

Andrew Sykes, chairman of Smith & Williamson, said: "With a career spanning 30 years in the financial services sector, Andrew has a distinguished record of leadership and governance roles in a range of investment management and financial services businesses.

"We are pleased to welcome him to Smith & Williamson and look forward to benefiting from his knowledge and experience of our industry as we deliver on our growth strategy."

Mr Fisher left Towry in 2014 after eight years as the company's chief executive.

His stint at the helm of Towry saw him bring a damages suit against IFA firm Raymond James and seven former Edward Jones advisers, who joined Raymond James shortly after Towry bought Edward Jones.

In court, Towry claimed the seven advisers broke their restrictive covenants by poaching and soliciting clients and claimed that Raymond James helped them to do so.

During the proceedings at the Royal Courts of Justice Mr Fisher was quizzed about his personality, the media's treatment of Towry, as well as what he told advisers and clients in the wake of the Edward Jones acquisition.

It was also raised that advisers had posted derogatory comments about Mr Fisher on the likes of FTAdviser and an article by former Money Management editor Janet Walford OBE was critical of him.

It was also revealed earlier in the hearing that Mr Fisher stood to gain about £160m from a Towry initial public offering, if the shares were valued at £7.

After Towry lost the case against Edward Jones adviser it was revealed that Mr Fisher would step down from his position as chief executive, to be replaced by ex-Prudential UK chief executive Rob Devey.

emma.hughes@ft.com