deVere United Kingdom, part of the deVere Group, one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organisations, expects a significant increase in its business levels in Britain in 2016 and has today launched a new High Net Worth division, reveals its UK-based boss.

 Mike Coady, Managing Director of deVere United Kingdom, says that deVere United Kingdom and its standalone brands are forecast to further raise standards and improve efficiencies, whilst aiming to do half as much business again as it did in 2015 – which was a record-breaking year for the company.

 Mr Coady explains: “2015 was deVere United Kingdom’s most successful year to date by some distance, and our comprehensive business forecasts indicate that 2016 will be an even brighter year.

 “Clients continue to demand more from us across our brands – deVere United Kingdom and deVere Mortgages – and we are up for the challenge. We expect to be able to satisfy this appetite for our service by achieving at least 50 per cent increase in our business in Britain over the next 12 months.”

 He continues: “Due to deVere Group’s truly global presence, much of the growing demand for deVere United Kingdom, which specialises in areas including retirement planning, overseas pensions, life assurance, investment planning and succession planning, is being driven by returning British expats.  The new pension freedoms have also contributed to rising demand.

 “deVere Mortgages has experienced a month-on-month increase in enquiries since it was launched as a standalone brand in January 2015, with a considerable surge in the last quarter.  More than 70 per cent of all enquiries come from foreign nationals or British nationals living and working abroad. The overwhelming majority of these individuals, approximately 60 per cent, currently reside in Switzerland, UAE, Qatar and the Far East.

 “We expect this trend to continue, and will focus on developing to cover other important international centres which have high numbers of UK expats.”

 With the bullish 2016 forecast, Mr Coady says key developments have been implemented.

 He explains: “To meet the current and predicted demand, we have implemented new efficiencies and will continue to invest heavily in our people.

 “In addition, we are taking on more graduates from the deVere graduate programme and have recruited additional staff, including a new Senior Paraplanner, Peter Cook, who has four decades of experience. This appointment brings deVere United Kingdom’s total number of Fellows of the Chartered Insurance Institute to four.

 “There are new roles for key individuals too. Kevin White, former Head of UK Financial Planning, is moving to our Head of Distribution role; Lee Grimshaw, former Senior Paraplanner, becomes Head of Proposition; Chris Barry, Head of the Pension Review Team becomes Head of Retirement; and Mitch Hopkinson, former Head of East Midlands becomes Head of Advice.”

 Mr Hopkinson is also to lead the High Net Worth division, which was launched this week to cater for the needs of the UK’s most affluent clients who will typically have more than £1m of investable assets.

 Mr Coady comments: “Throughout 2015 we have continued to attract so many high net worth clients, it is a natural progression to create a division to serve their often unique and specialist financial planning and wealth management needs.”