CEO Monthly May 2017

CEO MONTHLY / MAY 2017 5 , One of the world’s largest independent financial services organisations is to ‘extensively expand and develop’ its operations acrossWestern Europe with a new regional boss, it has recently been revealed. deVere to ‘Extensively Develop’ in Europe The move is part of the conclusions reached by the company-wide Strategic Review of its global business operation that began in March. It is expected to be finalised within a week. The company will, once completed, provide a full and comprehensive breakdown of its findings. deVere Group founder and Chief Executive, Nigel Green, comments: “One of the decisions we have made, based on the Strategic Review of our corporate structure and operating units is to extensively expand and develop our already solid position across Western Europe. “This expansion and development of the region is now a major priority for the organisation for the rest of 2017 and beyond. “We’re set to shake-up the Western Europe market place. Of that, I am confident. “Underscoring our commitment to this move, we’re committing extra investment and resources to Western Europe. This will include expanding our existing bases in Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy and opening at least two more offices in the region. “Of course, this will create a raft of new and extremely rewarding career opportunities for talented advisers to work within a growing, responsible organisation.” He continues: “To head up this exciting new era in the region is my son, James, who has successfully led teams of senior wealth advisers in some of our most competitive areas across the Middle East and India in recent years. He is also a highly skilled wealth and investment manager in his own right who has deVere’s ‘client-first’ culture in his DNA. James Green will begin his new role as Head of Western Europe on 5 June and will report directly to the CEO. Nigel Green goes on to say: “The decision is partly fuelled by three key factors: First, the increasingly buoyant economy in Western Europe; second, the increasing demand from the growing number of expats and international investors who are relocating there and who need specialist cross-border financial advice; and third to help close the ‘advice black hole’ that exists due to many advisers exiting the market due to high operating costs and to them routinely rejecting clients who aren’t deemed ‘high-net-worth enough’.” The deVere CEO concludes: “In short, Western Europe represents an enormous opportunity for growth for the company and we intend to explore this to the maximum.” When the Strategic Review was launched in March, Nigel Green, said: “As we move into our fifteenth year, and still dominating the international advisory sector, we have recently embarked on a strategic review of not only our corporate structures but also our operating units. “The process which we’ve now begun will allow us to take a bird’s eye view perspective of where we need to go as a business in order to maintain and expand on our market-leading position. “It will enable us as a business to see in which areas and markets we need to reduce our presence, where we should invest and develop more quickly and in more depth, and with which products and services. The Strategic Review will, no doubt, result in a comprehensive period of restructuring.”