Tony Pentland, the company’s new head of business development, said 3D Global’s first office outside Cyprus will open this month in Richmond, London, with further branches set for elsewhere in key British expat centres in France, Spain and Portugal in the first half of the year. It will be headed up by Peter Hickman.
Another new 3D adviser, Chris Green, is also now on the ground in Geneva, Pentland said, and is in the process of looking to open an office there, and eventually to recruit additional staff.
Additional offices in Qatar, and possibly the United Arab Emirates, are being considered for the second half of 2013 or early in 2014, Pentland said.
David Rumsey, who founded 3D Global in 1997 and who remains its managing director, said the plan was to create a “regional IFA network”, which would make use of 3D Global’s European licences to cater for clients throughout the EU, many of whom also live cross-border lives.
He said that the arrival of RDR in the UK in January had made this a good time to recruit experienced UK advisers, many of whom are now more willing than previously to consider the opportunities available abroad, as the domestic advisory industry begins to consolidate.
Prior to joining to 3D Global, Pentland had headed up the Cyprus office of the Fry Group for almost three years. He is being succeeded in that role by Mark Davies, who is relocating from Fry’s head office in Worthing, England.
