Despite describing 2019 as a ‘rollercoaster’ year, Nataša Williams reveals that challenges in financial markets have actually boosted LGT Vestra’s private office AuM by more than £200 million, with the highly trusted adviser now managing assets just shy of £1 billion. The team has also built a loan book of more than £50 million; a new offering following Vestra’s partnership with LGT in 2016. These developments make the wider firm a manager of £12 billionworth of private client assets – a huge leap from the start-up that Vestra was just 12 years ago. Yet another new and exciting development for LGT Vestra is the launch of its private equity offering, which Williams describes as ‘a real milestone for us’. ‘We have given our clients access to a select few niche funds – and the take-up is rising,’ she says. She is also warmed by the increased referrals of clients’ wider family members, who are often facing liquidity events: ‘It feels like our family meets the family of the client, and the connections are getting closer and closer. It is a testimony to the quality of our offering and the service.’ Williams realised her talent for simplification during her stint as an accountant at PwC, and used it to move across to wealth management. ‘People trust me because they understand me,’ she says. ‘I often think I am a translator between financial speak and normal language.’