The recruitment drive was given fresh impetus when the bank was voted the eighth best small company to work for in the Sunday Times’s Top 100.
“It was our sixth year in a row in the top 100 and we are the only bank in the survey. We had recruitment consultants all over us following that because 80% of the marks are taken from the staff and 95% of our staff responded to the survey,” said Stearn.
“Our staff turnover is 5%, given such difficult times in the industry, that is unusual,” he said.
Fairbairn considers itself to be a private bank that just happened to be in the Isle of Man and was looking for another jurisdiction. Most of its clients are UK non-doms.
We offer a similar service to Hoare & Co, we are open architecture. Coutts, SocGen, Kleinworts are doing similar things.”
The bank offers a Focus Account which comes with wealth management and financial advice. Entry level for the account is £50,000.
The bank said the expansion in London did not mean it was leaving other parts of the business behind and it wants to continue to be seen as a private bank.
“Clients say they cannot get the service they want from the ordinary banks, we are expanding to meet that need,” said Stearn
