Dubai: Woodbrook Group Holdings Ltd, one of the world’s fastest-growing international firms of financial advisers, has signalled exciting expansion plans with the announcement of a significant new appointment.
Dubai-based Nigel Gregory, a financial services industry veteran with three decades’ experience working in senior roles across the banking, wealth management and compliance sectors, has been appointed as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Woodbrook’s wealth management division. Mr Gregory’s appointment follows Woodbrook’s recent acquisition of Mondial (Dubai) LLC, one of the Emirates’ oldest established financial planning and wealth management companies.
In his new role, Mr Gregory will oversee the wealth management division across Woodbrook’s diverse range of companies, including Mondial, Mutual Trust, Robusto Asset Management and Felicitas. He will also work closely with Woodbrook CEO Michael Doherty as the group embarks on a series of planned mergers and acquisitions in the wealth management and corporate services sectors over the coming months.
Mr Gregory said: “I am delighted to join Woodbrook’s team at such an exciting period in the group’s development. This is the biggest challenge of my career, and I look forward to growing Woodbrook’s company and client portfolio at such a pivotal period for the group as we invest in technology, IT and more innovative ways of communicating to meet the needs of our expanding client base.”
Welcoming Mr Gregory’s appointment, Michael Doherty said: “We are delighted to confirm Nigel’s appointment as COO of Woodbrook’s expanding wealth management division as we look forward to a very exciting few months ahead for the group. Nigel has worked at the very highest levels of the financial services’ industry: building businesses and sales distribution networks across a wide range of companies and territories. Nigel’s experience in the compliance sector is also invaluable as we continue to expand internationally in the months and years to come.”
Mr Gregory brings a wealth of international experience to his new role. He has lived most of his professional life in Dubai but has spent the last two decades travelling and working across the world in Europe, Asia, South Africa and the US. He has worked for some of the world’s most respected banks and financial institutions, including HSBC, Acuma Wealth Management LLC, AES International, HBOS PLC and a major US investment company. In line with Woodbrook’s expansion plans, the Briton will draw on his considerable experience building and developing sales and asset management teams to significantly add to Woodbrook’s existing adviser headcount. Mr Gregory said Woodbrook’s growth strategy will be underpinned by an innovative recruitment campaign to ensure it attracts the right profile of a candidate for its expanding team.
He added: “We’re acquiring the right companies, with the right processes for the people in it and then we’re growing at the right pace. We want to grow relatively quickly, but this growth has to be in line with best regulatory practices.”
Mr Gregory said his background in compliance is “critical” to his new role as head of Woodbrook’s wealth division.
He added: “A fundamental part of Woodbrook’s ethos is to ensure our foundations are built on robust compliant procedures, and that we have the programmes in place to retain adviser knowledge and bring in and develop new talent. It’s a mature industry now: the charges are low, the margins are low, so we need to be able to provide a decent level of service to clients and a proposition that works and maintain qualified, high-level advisers.”
Woodbrook is headquartered in Cyprus and has offices across Europe and in Dubai. The group is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commissioner (CySEC). It holds a MiFID II investment license passported through the EEA along with IMD insurance mediation licenses through ICCS and IHK.