Prosperity Wealth increases headcount with new adviser

STOURBRIDGE based Prosperity Wealth has strengthened its team with the recruitment of its 27th adviser.

Rachel Jefferson joins having previously worked with Torquil Clark in Wolverhampton since 2001. She is one of only around 10% of advisers across the country to have Chartered Financial Planner status which is widely accepted as the gold standard of the industry.

She said: “When the opportunity came up to join Prosperity Wealth I never had any hesitation. It’s important to me that I work for a firm which offers truly independent advice and to join a fast-growing firm like Prosperity which has a reputation for its outstanding service to its clients is the perfect fit for me.”

Matt Bell, director at Prosperity Wealth, saidIt’s a great statement of intent and shows just how far we have come in a relatively short space of time that we are able to attract leading industry professionals of Rachel’s calibre.

“We are delighted to welcome Rachel to the workforce and she becomes our first female adviser which is fantastic as this can be a preference for some clients dealing with certain personal circumstances. We also hope this high profile appointment will encourage more women to pursue careers in the industry.”

The highly experienced Mrs Jefferson started out at Sedgwick Noble Lowndes in Birmingham back in 1996.

Crystal looks to strengthen South East business

STAFFORDSHIRE-based Crystal Specialist Finance has appointed Neil Elvish as Business Development Manager for the South East, with an area target to increase completed business to £100m per annum by 2018.

The move, which places an emphasis on managing existing broker contacts and forming new key strategic partnerships, further focuses on building strong profitable relationships to assist all parties in income stream growth.

Elvish joins from Select and Protect where he held the role of Business Development Manager for over 10 years.

Damien Druce, Head of Distribution and Development at Tamworth-based Crystal Specialist Finance, said: “The importance of the South East market to the financial world can never be understated, and to benefit from its ongoing expansion the right people need to be in place to maximise every opportunity. Neil’s experience, contacts and expertise speaks for itself.”

Further expansion for Catalyst

MID-MARKET transaction advisory firm Catalyst Corporate Finance has expanded its Midlands team with the recruitment of two more dealmakers.

Claire Carpenter, a graduate from Oxford University, joins the firm from Deloitte. After qualifying as a chartered accountant with Kaplan she moved to Deloitte where she gained experience in both restructuring and advisory work.

Keen to move into a more advisory role in corporate finance she joins Catalyst at a time when the firm is very busy and the Midlands team is at full stretch. Ms Carpenter will be based in Birmingham supporting partners Richards Sanders, Jamie Hope and Jeremy Harrison.

Sarah Ashworth joins the Nottingham office of Catalyst from KPMG in London. Having graduated in Mathematical Sciences from Durham University, she qualified with KPMG in London and for the last few years has been working as a Senior Analyst at RBS.

Jamie Hope, Partner at Catalyst said: “I am delighted that Claire and Sarah have joined the firm. They come at a time when we are originating and delivering a greater number of deals across the UK. Given the significant liquidity in private equity and debt markets, together with cash-rich overseas buyers, we expect the level of M&A activity to continue to grow as business owners and managers have a broader range of options than at any time in recent memory.”