Nick Griffin and Mark Maplesden have joined forces to set up a company called Cheyne & Co.
With offices in Guernsey and Dubai, the investment marketing consultancy firm aims to empower financial confidence for both expats and their advisers.
With 30 years’ sales and marketing experience, managing director Griffin said: “Our purpose is to remove complexity and help build trust for expatriates to give them the confidence to invest efficiently and effectively and achieve their lifetime financial goals.”
Griffin was previously chief commerical officer at Generali Worldwide, which was acquired by Utmost Group in March 2019; while Maplesden was sales manager at Utmost International but left the business in December 2020.
Retain value
Griffin and Maplesden point to a recent EY survey, which showed that a quarter of high net worth investors in the Middle East intend to move their assets in the near future, with 48% also looking to change adviser.
For decades, this shift of assets has been accepted as part of doing business in international markets; but forward-thinking owners are becoming more strategic and are focusing on the long-term value of their businesses, they said.
Working with investment managers, behavioural finance experts and customer experience specialists, Cheyne & Co’s aim is to help advisory firms and investment managers build and retain AUM for the long term.
Building bridges
Due to the rapidly evolving regulatory environment and growth indicators, the UAE will be Cheyne & Co’s first market.
But plans are already afoot to extend into the wider Middle East and Asian regions.
Sales director Maplesden said: “Many of the world’s leading discretionary fund managers are not located in the regions where expatriates are living and working.
“With a local presence in Dubai, our first aim at Cheyne & Co is to facilitate links between DFMs, advisers and their clients in the UAE.”
Griffin added: “We believe it is vital for expatriates to benefit from best of breed investment managers and we are delighted to be launching with two partners with the pedigree and performance record of Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management UK and Kingswood Group and we look forward to making some key partner announcements in the coming weeks.”
