For the purposes of the Spear’s ranking, high-net-worth wealth managers are defined as advisers who primarily work with clients with investable assets of £1 million or more.
The best wealth managers for high-net-worth individuals go beyond simply handling a client’s investments and instead guide them in developing a broader wealth strategy tailored to their individual needs and financial situation.
Wealth managers can also take into account a range of financial matters, including estate planning, succession, tax services, wealth structuring and ultimately assisting individuals and families through every stage of life in financial security. Client input can be minimal — wealth managers will often take the lead on advising on desired return, risk appetite, liquidity needs and time horizon, and then have a degree of freedom to invest the portfolio in different asset classes, from equities and fixed-income to alternatives like hedge funds and private equity.
Explore the other rankings within the 2025 Spear’s Wealth Management Indices:
- Best UHNW Wealth Managers
- Best Wealth Managers: Jersey
- Best Wealth Managers: Guernsey
- Best Wealth Managers: Singapore
- Best Wealth Managers: Switzerland
- Best Wealth Managers: Middle East
This ranking of international power-players reflects the truly global nature of the industry. There are advisers based in London and Dubai, Switzerland and Singapore. Naturally, many also specialise in off-shore solutions in places like the Channel Islands.
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- Methodology
- Best HNW Wealth Managers: some names to know
- Best HNW Wealth Managers: the complete list
- Contact us
Methodology
Each year, the Spear’s Research Unit reassesses and refreshes its rankings of the leading providers in each sector by gathering data from and about the advisers and firms themselves, assessing submission forms, collating nominations, carrying out peer reviews, reviewing data from third-party sources, gathering references and recommendations, canvassing experts and conducting hundreds of interviews.
Advisers are evaluated using a proprietary scoring system that assigns different weightings to certain attributes. These scores feed directly into each new set of rankings in the Spear’s Indices. Each of these indices are published first online (according to the research calendar) and then in print. Print publication takes the form of the annual Spear’s 500 directory, which includes the top advisers in every index.
[See also: A guide to The Spear’s 500: Everything you need to know]
Each featured adviser is profiled on spears500.com. The site allows users to search the Spear’s database of more than 4,000 entities to find one (or more) to meet their specific requirements by filtering for specific attributes such as an adviser’s location, their specialist expertise and information about their client base.
Best wealth managers for high-net-worth individuals: some names to know
Ben Stern
- Focus: Boutique wealth management
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: Lincoln Private Investment Office
Ben Stern, a partner and head of family office services at Lincoln Private Investment Office, says that Lincoln’s ‘independence and alignment’ resonate with his HNW client base, who are increasingly looking to work with a firm that shares their values.
Named HNW Wealth Manager of the Year at the 2024 Spear’s Awards, Stern explains that shareholders of the firm are clients themselves. ‘Everyone at Lincoln invests all their own liquid wealth in the same portfolios and investments they manage for their clients.’
Read Ben Stern’s full profile on Spears500.com
Diana Brightmore-Armour
- Focus: Client-first decision-making
- Ranking: Top Flight
- Firm: C. Hoare & Co.
Appointed chief executive of C. Hoare & Co. in 2021, Diana Brightmore-Armour has played her part in London banking history: she is the first female CEO of the city’s oldest privately owned bank.
We have ‘one eye always on the future,’ said Alexander Hoare – a member of C. Hoare & Co.’s founding family and now its managing partner – upon her appointment. For her own part, Brightmore-Armour (who enters our top flight rankings for the first time in 2025) has praised the bank’s much-celebrated commitment to social responsibility, as well as its peerless dedication to its clients.
Read Diana Brightmore-Armour’s full profile on Spears500.com
Bimpe Nkontchou
- Focus: African entrepreneurs and families
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: W8 Advisory
Bimpe Nkontchou is the founder and managing principal of London-based wealth management firm W8 Advisory. She specialises in advising HNW entrepreneurs and family businesses on family and corporate governance, estate and tax planning, asset management, philanthropy, and compliance and regulatory issues.
Nkontchou is qualified to practise law in both the UK and Nigeria, and she tells Spear’s how much she enjoys helping her clients. ‘I enjoy problem solving, and the work I do is all about finding global solutions. This could be anything from assisting clients in having a sound governance structure that ensures a smooth transition of the family business to the next generation have a sound governance structure that ensures a smooth transition of the family business to the next generation, to helping to acquire or dispose of assets such as real estate in a seamless manner.’
Read Bimpe Nkontchou’s full profile on Spears500.com
Henri Etchegoyen
- Focus: Private equity and hedge fund professionals
- Ranking: Rising Star
- Firm: HSBC Global Private Banking
Henri Etchegoyen is a director at HSBC Global Private Banking, specialising in investment and lending solutions for HNW individuals. The former Credit Suisse private banker typically serves hedge fund managers, private equity partners and other financial industry professionals who require a keen knowledge of markets and sophisticated portfolio structuring. ‘I take great interest in markets and investing,’ he tells Spear’s.
He praises HSBC’s global reach, saying it offers one of the most ‘comprehensive wealth planning platforms in the UK in terms of a private bank’, meaning wider access to investments for clients.
Read Henri Etchegoyen’s full profile on Spears500.com
Swaati Osborne
- Focus: Clients with US interests
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: LGT Wealth Management
Swaati Osborne, head of wealth planning at LGT Wealth Management’s US division, aims to ‘provide a holistic service’ to help grow her clients’ wealth. With more than 15 years of experience, she has advised HNW and UHNW clients including partners at high-profile law firms, entrepreneurs, private equity partners, charities, family estates and trusts.
She joined LGT in 2019 as a wealth planner before being promoted to senior wealth planner and then head of wealth planning in 2023. Her quick ascent reflects the firm’s focus on expanding its US operations while supporting ‘families who have complex planning requirements and objectives in both the US and UK’.
Read Swaati Osborne’s full profile on Spears500.com
James Von Simson
- Focus: Multi-jurisdictional clients
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: Evelyn Partners
James von Simson is a partner at Evelyn Partners, responsible for looking after multi-generational and multi-jurisdictional families. He is very aware of the personal nature of wealth management and his responsibility to clients. ‘My approach is to spend a lot of time understanding a family to try to work out what is right for them,’ he tells Spear’s.
Personable and highly knowledgeable, von Simson is an approachable route into complex investment strategy: in addition to advising clients on family governance, wealth preservation and philanthropy, he is a global equity funds research specialist at the firm.
Read James Von Simson’s full profile on Spears500.com
Best HNW wealth managers: the complete list
Click on the individual names to be directed to more detailed profiles of each adviser on The Spear’s 500 website. The table is ordered by ranking and then alphabetically by surname.
Contact us
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