Smith Cooper boosts financial planning arm with new appointment

SMITH Cooper has bolstered its financial services arm with the appointment of experienced Chartered Financial Planner, Sylvia Cooper.  
 
Smith Cooper Independent Financial Solutions (SCIFS) is a division of Smith Cooper accountants and specialises in wealth management, inheritance tax planning and investments for both individuals and corporates across the Midlands and beyond.
 
The independent financial advisor also advises companies on a bespoke approach to managing final salary pension schemes and currently manages funds in excess of £120m from offices in Derby, Birmingham, Nottingham, and Hinckley.
 
Specialising in high net worth clients and covering all holistic financial matters including inheritance tax provision, pension planning, technical investments and cash flow planning for individuals and trusts, Ms Cooper previously spent nearly 10 years at wealth management firm Towry, leaving to join Ashcourt Rowan in October 2012.  But when her former employers (Towry) took over the company, she decided to look for a smaller organisation to join.
 
Ms Cooper said: “I looked at 10 different IFA practices. Some well-known IFA businesses focus on cash flow modelling and only deal with passive investments.  They may have low charges, but this is very restrictive for the client solutions and hence I knocked them off my list.  High net worth individuals deserve and need to have the full range of options and service available and it is key to only provide whole of market advice.”

SCIFS managing director, Richard Garside, said: “Sylvia provides the expert experience and technical expertise that is valued by our clients.  She’s a perfect fit with our business and I’m pleased that she can add to our bespoke offering.”
 

New tax partner at Baldwins

BALDWINS Accountants has promoted tax consultant Clare Allen to tax partner to cover offices in Tamworth, Derby, Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Nottingham.

The 35-year-old (left), who is also busy planning her wedding this year, has become the expanding business’s fourth tax partner alongside Mike Brown, Praveen Gupta and Jeni Bramley.

Ms Allen originally joined the company when she graduated from the University of Warwick.
“I started working as a trainee accountant at Knight Arnold Wall in Nuneaton which was taken over by Baldwins Accountants in 2008 and then I became a tax manager,” she said.

“We merged with Coventry four years later so I moved over there and then when I joined the corporate services tax team, I transferred to Tamworth last year.

“I am responsible for overseeing the four-strong tax team in Tamworth and I also meet clients and give advice on higher end tax issues and personal and corporate tax.”

David Baldwin, a partner at the firm, said: “We are always keen to help our staff progress within the company to meet their ambitions.

“Clare has been with Baldwins since graduating from university and is thoroughly committed and has a wide breadth of knowledge in tax which will continue to be beneficial to her clients.”

Hat-trick of appointments at Mazars

MAZARS is expanding its corporate finance team in the Midlands with three new recruits.
Senior manager Geraint Regan and Tom Jefferson, executive, will be based in the Birmingham office.

Andy Breeze, also a senior manager, is working in Nottingham and Leicester offices, covering the East Midlands

Regan has enjoyed wide and varied corporate finance and commercial experience with EY, Royal Bank of Scotland and IBM. Jefferson, who is transferring internally, was previously a corporate finance analyst with a respected national boutique. Breeze formerly worked for RSM Tenon and Baker Tilly.

Corporate finance partner Nick Johnson said: “The recruitment is a direct result of the success generated within the Mazars corporate finance business.

“We had a record year last year with transaction highlights including the sale of Life Marketing, the management buyout of Total Fitness and the sale of Proteus Software.”

Nick Johnson, corporate finance partner, Mazars (left) pictured with new recruits Geraint Regan and Tom Jefferson.