Top Ten UHNW Wealth Managers

‘We did a lot of work in 2019 on our digital capability, and it proved invaluable this year when we went into lockdown,’ says Kate Leppard over the phone.

The reigning Spear’s UHNW Asset Manager of the Year spent much of March ‘hand-holding’ clients through turbulent markets. ‘I was more surprised about the lack of panic,’ she says of the mood. ‘Many clients lived through the great financial crisis. And I think in part it was because we were so proactive.’ It also helps that portfolios were ‘robust enough to weather the storm’.

The proactivity Leppard talks about extends to more than reassuring clients. She strikes an ebullient tone when talking about an impending client app: ‘It will allow us to give clients the information they want, when they want and how they want it.’

Leppard joined Schroders (which bought Cazenove Capital in 2013) in 1990 from a short stint as a stockbroker at Quilter Goodison. As head of client service, she manages investment portfolios for large UK and international private families as well as charities.

The firm has also started to ‘talk more loudly’ about its ESG and sustainability work, she notes. While such themes have been a consistent aspect of Cazenove’s core offering, Leppard says there has been a notable uptick in interest recently. ‘This time of lockdown has made clients reflect on what their needs, requirements and values are,’ she says.