The five advisers who have joined Holborn Assets are Yasmine Abou Elnasr, Syeda Al-Iqtidar, Lee Campbell, Bernard Buckley and William Buckley.
They left the employment of Finsbury Associates separately and for varying reasons over the period December 2015 to June 2016.
Thompson will initially be managing a team of 12 with plans to develop the non-resident Indian (NRI) market in Dubai.
Holborn Assets chief executive Robert Parker said Thompson had “deep experience working in the UAE” and that he was delighted also to get the team of five advisers.
“We are also laying on his shoulders the task of reaching out to NRI clients which signals a whole new service channel. I am supremely confident that under his guidance this new business avenue will be a game changer,” he said.
There are an estimated 2.6 million NRIs in the UAE, the firm said, who account for 28% of the professional community and $5bn (€4.57bn, £4.11bn) of investments in the UAE’s real estate market as at 2014.
Thompson’s areas of expertise include specialised financial services to expat and international clients in the oil and gas industry, expat professionals, educational planning, wills and guardianship, and UK pension schemes.
Thompson said: “The lure of the bright lights and the fantastic lifestyle on offer can easily distract from the reasons expats come here in the first place, which is to make money. Our expertise lies in finding the right financial strategies for clients to achieve their goals.”
Finsbury Associates was previously known as Fund Advisers until a management buyout took place in January 2015.
Earlier in that same month Spencer Lodge, a former regional manager for deVere, left Fund Advisers having originally helped to set it up.
