Global geopolitical instability, rising inflation, changes to UK tax policy and the AI revolution have formed the backdrop to the 2026 Spear’s wealth management research.
In response, the role of the wealth manager continues to evolve far beyond traditional portfolio management. Increasingly, advisers are acting not simply as investment managers, but as long-term stewards of wealth and advisers for the entire family. They guide clients through succession planning, liquidity events and market volatility.
Nicholas Dudley-Hammatt of HSBC Private Bank explains: ‘The 2020s with Covid, with two wars going on and higher interest rates to start the decade, have really increased the value of advisers like us to our clients.’
Wealth managers take into account a range of financial matters, including estate planning, 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.
Related
Eight new additions join the index this year, representing the growing number of advisers who act as coordinators, strategists, and connectors between other advisers for some of the world’s wealthiest clients. Their clients include those with generational family wealth, entrepreneurs, finance professionals and founders preparing for liquidity events.
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 2026 ranking of international power-players reflects the truly global nature of the industry. There are advisers based in London, Dubai and Switzerland. Naturally, many also specialise in off-shore solutions in places like the Channel Islands.
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[See also: The Wealth Management Indices 2026]
Explore the other rankings within the 2026 Spear’s Wealth Management Indices:
- Best UHNW Wealth Managers
- Best Wealth Planners
- Best Wealth Managers: Jersey
- Best Wealth Managers: Guernsey
- Best Wealth Managers: Switzerland
- Best Wealth Managers: Middle East
- Best Family Office Advisory & Consultancy
- Best Family Office Banking & Investment Services
- Best Generational Wealth and Family Business Advisers
Trends in 2026
The Great Wealth Transfer
One of the clearest themes across the HNW wealth managers featured in this year’s Index is the extent to which intergenerational wealth transfer has become central to portfolio planning. Wealth managers are increasingly educating their clients’ children and grandchildren in managing money and engaging them in conversations about succession. What was once a relatively niche service within the world of asset management has now become a core tenet of advice.
‘I absolutely focus on setting up relationships with clients’ children by encouraging them to set up ISAs,’ Paul Denley of Oakham Wealth Management explained. ‘They can start to learn how to be investors, make mistakes and see the importance of professional advice early on.’
AI revolution
Spear’s has extensively covered the AI revolutions early affects on the wealth management industry, including the early success of CIO Group, a firm that uses AI to evaluate clients’ holdings.
[See also: Is the AI boom bursting wealth management’s bubble?]
While some are embracing it as a way to free up their time, making space for more face-to-face client contact. Others warn that LLMs can provide users with weak, incomplete analyses and that the wealthiest clients still view human judgment as a premium product. Many advisers reported having to tread the new ground with caution, slowly introducing AI technology to their workflow.
‘I think it’s fair to say that given the enhancements to AI over the past few years, we’re very much working with it rather than against it,’ said Matthew Woodrow, who heads up the London team at Rathbones. ‘But at the end of the day, clients want a human being at the end of the phone.’
The rise of the boutique
In recent years, criticism of larger firms’ being constrained through benchmark requirements and the commercial push to sell in-house products to clients has become louder. As a result, a growing number of boutique firms are gaining the trust of the world’s wealthiest clients.
Spear’s research reflected this, with advisers from larger firms emphasising the depth of their infrastructure and international capabilities, and boutiques quick to highlight their accessibility and transparency.
‘We’re a small business, there are nine of us full-time, and I’m the principal adviser. I’m very close to my clients, I meet them frequently, and it’s very much a trusted adviser relationship,’ said Nick Brown at NB Wealth.
In an increasingly volatile and uncertain market, a trusted adviser role is becoming more important than ever. The advisers featured this year cite second, third and even fourth generation client relationships, with whom they have weathered the storm and established themselves as guardians of wealth.
Click the links below to jump to a section of this article:
- 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
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
Jack Barrett
- Focus: ‘White Glove’ service
- Ranking: Top Flight
- Firm: Arbuthnot Latham
Jack Barrett, a senior private banker at Arbuthnot Latham, believes in ‘making life as simple as possible’ for his clients.
Many of the individuals and families he advises have ‘very complex affairs’, and the ability to provide ‘wealth structuring and planning as well as investment management guidance and expertise under one roof is very, very valuable,’ he tells Spear’s.
Arbuthnot Latham, winner of the Private Bank of the Year (UK) Award at the Spear’s Awards 2025, has a strong client base within the HNW market, serving successful entrepreneurs and city professionals and those with generational wealth.
Read Jack Barrett’s full profile on Spears500.com
Ross Elder
- Focus: Independence and transparency
- Ranking: Top Flight
- Firm: Lincoln Private Investment
Managing partner Ross Elder is the driving force behind Lincoln Private Investment Office, which looks after around 300 families made up of predominantly UK-based entrepreneurs, business owners and financial professionals.
Lincoln, which recently gained B-Corp certification, focuses on looking after its current client base rather than searching for the next bit of business, eschewing any form of advertising or marketing to rely on word-of-mouth endorsements. ‘We have no interest in becoming the biggest; we are focused on only trying to become the best,’ says Elder, who won the Spear’s HNW Wealth Manager of the Year Award in 2023.
Read Ross Elder’s full profile on Spears500.com
Jonathan Grant
- Focus: Next-gen planning
- Ranking: Recommended
- Firm: JG River Wealth Management
JG River Wealth Management’s Jonathan Grant has almost four decades of experience in the wealth management industry.
He emphasises that he provides a ‘hands-on’ service to a select few clients, helping them to ‘make the best of their situation’ and creating a robust investment portfolio that works alongside a holistic financial plan in the form of retirement planning, estate structuring and inheritance tax consultations.
Many of Grant’s clients have stayed with him throughout his career, and they appreciate the ‘total continuity’ they have received since he started his own firm. ‘No client is a stepping stone,’ he says.
Read Jonathan Grant’s full profile on Spears500.com
Rosie Bullard
- Focus: Resident domiciled and non-domiciled HNWs
- Ranking: Top Flight
- Firm: James Hambro & Partners
In order for a client relationship to be successful, trust, communication and proactivity are key, says James Hambro partner and portfolio manager Rosie Bullard.
Bullard works with private individuals, trusts and charities, many of whom she has built a relationship with over ‘multiple years and decades’. Clients are often resident in the UK but have international tax considerations.
She frequently supports clients going through significant financial changes, such as divorce or the sale of assets, as well as those with ongoing wealth and investment structuring requirements. This includes those with complex structures or overseas reporting obligations. Increasingly, she works with families and family charities, providing support across multiple generations.
Read Rosie Bullard’s full profile on Spears500.com
Andrew Chatterton
- Focus: Cheshire private clients
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: Franklyn Financial Management
Franklyn Financial Management is one of the Cheshire region’s largest wealth managers.
A partner practice of St. James’s Place, the firm offers a broad range of private client services, covering investment and retirement planning, estate protection and intergenerational wealth planning. Founder and CEO Andrew Chatterton has built a considerable niche in helping business owners looking to grow and exit their companies, and the firm has a tidy number of professional sportspeople and celebrities on its roster; Franklyn has partnered with Stoke City Football Club as well as Badminton England.
Chatterton’s aim has been to grow a sense of ‘community’ with his clients, he tells Spear’s. ‘The reality is that they entrust us with their money – which is not just the money invested, but also the promise to pay life insurance and making sure it lands in the right place.’
Read Andrew Chatterton’s full profile on Spears500.com
Maria Elena Gatt Floridia
- Focus: Entrepreneurs and executives
- Ranking: Top Flight
- Firm: HSBC Private Bank
Maria Elena Gatt Floridia has built up one of the larger client portfolios in HSBC Private Bank’s UK HNW business – and she has done so with a clear sense of who she is there to serve.
As part of the bank’s financial markets division within the special segments team, she focuses on those who work in financial services themselves: private equity professionals, hedge fund managers and other sophisticated clients who are seeking an adviser who can meet them at their level. She tells Spear’s that her clients tend to have a minimum of £4 million in investable assets.
Her philosophy is rooted in trust earned over time rather than products deployed in the moment. ‘If a client comes to you after they made a decision, you’re not adding value,’ she says. The role, as she sees it, is to be the steady presence clients reach out to before they act – particularly when markets are turbulent.
Read Maria Elena Gatt Floridia’s full profile on Spears500.com
Dah-Eun Chae
- Focus: Sustainable investing, tailored portfolio solutions
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: Julius Baer
Dah-Eun Chae first entered the financial industry as an analyst in Merrill Lynch’s wealth management business, which was soon acquired by Swiss private bank Julius Baer.
A decade at UBS, where she rose to executive director and was described by one industry commentator as the ‘face of its next generation’, followed. Rejoining Julius Baer in 2025, then, feels like a homecoming. ‘It’s full circle,’ she tells Spear’s. What drew her back is what she sees as the firm’s defining quality: its singular focus. ‘It specialises exclusively in wealth management,’ she says.
Shortlisted as Future Leader of the Year at the 2022 Spear’s Awards, Chae advises (U)HNW families across sustainable investing, tailored portfolio solutions and philanthropy.
Read Dah-Eun Chae’s full profile on Spears500.com
Andrew Davies
- Focus: HNWs in the south west
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: LGT Wealth management
Andrew Davies, the regional head of LGT Wealth Management and head of the Bristol office, tells Spear’s that he works with a select number of HNW and UHNW families: those who have mostly created wealth themselves through businesses, and who are becoming increasingly international in their outlook.
For many of these clients, he explains, ‘enough money isn’t the question’. Rather, they are concerned with ‘doing the right thing’ with their wealth, navigating family dynamics and planning for the future.
Davies helps his clients to view the bigger picture, providing advice relating to business exit and succession planning, as well as wealth structuring, working alongside a client’s lawyers and tax advisers – ‘rather than trying to compete with them’ – to devise a wealth plan to suit each client’s needs.
Read Andrew Davies’s full profile on Spears500.com
Gina Parker
- Focus: Intergenerational wealth structuring
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: Panthera Private Office
Assured, calm and quietly forthright, Gina Parker is a wealth management veteran with over 25 years’ experience. The co-founder and senior partner at Panthera Private Office serves a clientele of domestic and international HNWs and UNHWs, taking a holistic approach to their wealth and their lives.
She tells Spear’s she specialises in ‘very large and complex wealth’. Her work includes supporting clients throughout liquidity and post-liquidity events, helping them ‘transition from theoretical wealth to real, liquid cash’.
Parker explains that we are in the midst of ‘one of the greatest transfers of wealth in history’, and there is a ‘real desire to educate the second generation’ as families accelerate planning. She notes clients are ‘very balanced and very rational and actually very accepting of tax’, though there is ‘a degree of nervousness about just how high the overall tax take is going’, driving pre-emptive wealth transfers.
Read Gina Parker’s full profile on Spears500.com
Paul Denley
- Focus: Intelligent investment solutions
- Ranking: Recommended
- Firm: Oakham Wealth Management
Paul Denley, co-founder and CEO of Oakham Wealth Management, is more focused on maintaining close relationships with his entrepreneurial clients than attracting new ones.
The firm, which is a certified B Corp, does not engage in marketing, taking on only a small number of new relationships each year through referrals from existing clients. For Oakham’s often time-poor clientele, this translates into close access to advisers who have the flexibility to tailor wealth and investment solutions to their specific needs.
‘We are a boutique, and everybody in the team has an understanding of all of the clients,’ Denley tells Spear’s. ‘We have learned everything we can about sustainable investing and ESG, then balance that out with our existing knowledge, so that effectively we are a full-service investment firm.’
Read Paul Denley’s full profile on Spears500.com
Nick Brown
- Focus: Long-term wealth planning
- Ranking: Recommended
- Firm: NB Wealth
Longtime wealth manager Nick Brown founded his own wealth management and financial planning firm in 2012.
NB Wealth, a partner practice of St. James’s Place, aids private clients – including high-growth entrepreneurs and City professionals – across London and the home counties in matters concerning retirement planning, inheritance tax, wealth structuring and investment strategy. Clients tend to have more than £2 million held with the firm, and some have been with Brown for almost 15 years, with multiple generations now receiving his counsel.
Brown says he invests a great deal of time into his relationships with clients and takes a long-term view of wealth planning. While some advisers within the industry might focus solely on numbers and performance, ‘first and foremost, I try to have empathy with clients’, he tells Spear’s.
Read Nick Brown’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.
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With additional reporting by Caitlin Kilpatrick.
