Kingswood Holdings Limited, the international, fully integrated wealth and investment management group, is today pleased to announce the appointment of Christopher Calvocoressi as Technology Transformation Lead.

In his role, Christopher will be responsible for leading Kingswood’s technology transformation agenda and will also head up the further development of Kingswood Go, a recently launched online portal which allows clients to access their investments and hold all of their financial information online and in one place.

Prior to joining Kingswood, Christopher was a Programme Manager focussing on technology transformation at Schroders Personal Wealth. Before this, he was part of the Wealth and Asset Management Advisory team at EY for nearly a decade, working across a range of consulting and transaction advisory engagements.

Over the past few years, Kingswood has evolved into a growing international vertically integrated wealth and investment management group with £9.1 billion of Assets under Advice and Management and over 19,300 clients.

So far this year, the firm has made four acquisitions in the UK, acquiring Allotts Financial Services Limited, a high quality, long established financial advisory firm based in Rotherham; D.J. Cooke (Life & Pensions) Limited based in Conisbrough, South Yorkshire; Joseph R Lamb Independent Financial Advisers, an advisory business based in Essex, and Aim Independent Limited, an independent financial advice business serving clients throughout Hampshire. The firm also acquired Metnor, the holding company for IBOSS Asset Management Limited and Novus Financial Services Limited, late last year.

Christopher’s appointment also follows a buy recommendation for Kingswood Holdings from finnCap, the financial services advisory firm, which believes that the firm has the potential to deliver c£20.0m EBITDA and should hold a target share price of 39p. KWG has recently seen its share price rise by around 7% this year alone.

David Lawrence, Chief Executive Officer of Kingswood Holdings Limited., said: “Christopher’s extensive skills and knowledge of leading best-in-class technology initiatives will help us to build propositions that help more people access financial advice and to enhance their experience, particularly in an increasingly digitised world. We’re delighted to have him on board.

“As a firm, Kingswood has completely transformed itself within the space of just a few years creating a highly successful, fast growing international vertically integrated wealth and investment management group. The UK business has significantly increased its acquisition activity, coupled with a strong integration capability, organic growth credentials and focussed investment in client centricity. There is a significant pipeline of further acquisition opportunities with four transactions in exclusive due diligence fuelling the ambition to grow UK AUM to over £10bn.”

Harriet Griffin, Chief Operating Officer at Kingswood, said: “Technology continues to significantly transform the wealth management industry, both on the advisory and client side. Christopher’s background experience in developing and leading a technological offering in wealth management makes him a real asset to the team.  We very much look forward to working with him on delivering our strategy and fully embracing the digital age.”

Commenting on his appointment, Christopher Calvocoressi, said: “Kingswood is without doubt a thriving business with high aspirations. I’m very excited to be joining the firm at this exciting time and to lead a skilled, inspired and diverse team in providing our clients with access to financial advice via the very best technology initiatives.”