The new operation will be part of a “growing” private wealth team at Ogier, the company said.
This team is part of Ogier’s Fiduciary Services Group, which is headed by Phil Norman, also based in Jersey, and looks after the interests of individual and family office clients.
In an interview, Wakefield explained his role at the group as acting as a "gatekeeper" who would keep an expert eye on Ogier’s fiduciary business and ensure that its investments were in keeping with the relevant mandates.
Most recently Wakefield had been chief investment officer for three years at Orchard Wealth Management in Jersey. Prior to this he spent seven years in various roles, including fund manager, at Ashburton, the Jersey-based asset management arm of South Africa’s FirstRand Group.
Wakefield said he was looking forward to “working alongside clients helping them formulate achievable strategic goals”.
‘Pockets of extreme overvaluation’
In a statement accompanying news of his appointment, Wakefield noted that significant recent intervention in global markets by banks “has created pockets of extreme overvaluation”, with the result that “there is no sign that the tremendous volatility we have endured over the last decade will end anytime soon.
“Helping investors to navigate this landscape and chose appropriate managers is a challenge I look forward to.”
The Ogier Group specialises in legal and fiduciary services and employs more than 800 people in nine jurisdictions around the world, with around half of these in Jersey. Its other offices are located in such financial centres as Guernsey, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong and London.
