Gladstone Global Advisory Eyes Bigger Asia and Australia Wealth Management Business

    EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, January 12, 2022 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Gladstone Global Advisory plans to increase its wealth management operations in Asia and Australia with a focus on the hubs of Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Sydney. In a bid to tap emerging market growth, Hector Douglas, Co Head of Gladstone's Global Finance Group said on Monday.

"Around 50 percent of the firm's wealth management clients outside of Europe and the United Kingdom, mainly from emerging markets, and the firm sees growth coming out of all of those areas" Douglas said at the Dubai expo.

"The reason we think the wealth management business is going to be faster growing than financial services overall is the growth of wealth coming from emerging market countries."

Gladstone is one of the world's top boutique wealth management firms, with more than $1.8 bln USD of assets under administration and nearly 0.5 bln combined GBP/EUR/NZD/AUD/SGD and YEN worth of assets under management.

Douglas said that Gladstone would look at acquisition opportunities as they come up, but the main focus would be on organic growth.

In the Asean region, Gladstone already has a significant capital markets presence in Singapore and it is building up its wealth management business there to serve the growing number of mainland Chinese investors using it as a financial center to expand their investments overseas.

He said the focus would range from investments to credit, estate planning, succession planning, and tax planning.

Douglas, who is one of 8 executives responsible for setting the overall strategic direction of Gladstone, said he sees Singapore and Australia as a very strong private banking and trust center for South Asia and the Oceania.

In the United States, where the firm has around $500 million in assets under management, Douglas said Gladstone is focusing on increasing the productivity of the roughly 100 financial advisers currently in its stable.

"We feel good about our competitive position (in the United States)," he said. "We think there's more potential and a better focus for clients to concentrate on having the best 100 financial consultants we can have, rather than trying to double or triple that number."

He said one of the ways they can become more productive is by helping clients to diversify their investments beyond their home markets, leveraging Gladstone's growing global presence.

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