Investec’s past as a family business ensures that it has a host of global entrepreneurial clients while retaining its sense of tradition. Private office head Andrew Butler-Cassar says the legacy helps the firm appeal to a wide range of HNWs: ‘It’s the meeting of minds at a cultural point – that breaks the ice quickly,’ he previously told Spear’s.
That rapport tells. In one instance a retail businesswoman enlisted the help of Butler-Cassar after the sale of her enterprise. ‘The first three or four meetings had nothing to do with investment management,’ he has said. He and his team gained her trust, though: ‘This is what the job is about – solving problems.’