Financial planning & advice in the UAE

Date of Appointment

Appointed Chief Operating Officer January 2016.
Joined St. James’s Place in 2007.

Experience

After joining as Deputy Finance Director, Iain became Commercial Director in 2012, responsible for business planning and developing the 2020 strategy. In 2016, Iain was appointed Joint Chief Operating Officer responsible for key relationships with SJP’s largest businesses, Marketing functions, the Business Sale & Purchase function as well as the People and Learning & Development functions. At the end of 2020 he also took over responsibility for the Asia business.

Iain qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young and, prior to St. James’s Place, worked for Pentland (the sportswear group), ITV and Prudential.

External Appointments

Iain has no external appointments.

Andy has worked in the financial services industry for nearly 30 years, having worked for the Zurich Insurance Group and St. James’s Place in the UK.  Having held the Approved Person position for Risk Management for SJP, Andy made the move to Asia in July 2014 to support the acquisition of The Henley Group. This role initially included managing the regulatory and risk functions in Asia and heading up the Singapore Branch of St. James’s Place International.

Andy sits on the Asia Executive Committee, reporting directly to Iain Rayner and is currently responsible for managing our people, processes, systems, finances and regulatory relationships across Asia to ensure that we deliver positive outcomes for all our stakeholders and have a scalable, productive and profitable business.

Magdalena is the Senior Executive Officer – Middle East & Head of Legal Division, Asia & Middle East.

In this role, she is responsible for overseeing all legal affairs in Asia and Middle East, including corporate and commercial legal matters, litigation, privacy and intellectual property. She also provides guidance and advice on strategic business transactions across the breadth of St. James’s Place activities in Asia and Middle East.

Magdalena brings more than 20 years of experience in business and corporate law, including extensive experience across various industries in Europe (with another FTSE 100 company) and in the Middle East. She is passionate about getting involved in complex legal issues, challenging the status quo and finding new ways to contribute to the growth of the business. Her sense of purpose is to support the business in delivering the highest quality service to its clients and ensuring that integrity, compliance and business ethics always prevails.

Magdalena is a solicitor qualified in England and Wales, and an attorney-in-law qualified in Poland.

She is also a keen sailor, and a member of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club.

Matt Mitchener is the Head of Proposition and Corporate Marketing for Asia and the Middle East for St. James's Place. Matt is based in Dubai after working with SJP for 6 years in the Shanghai office.

Matt has worked in financial services since 2007 throughout Australia in various management roles including sales, distribution & partnerships, and marketing and product for an ASX listed company with over 1,500 advisers. Matt has a keen interest on the Asian market, having spent his early life in Thailand and Indonesia and later having participated in the "Doing Business in China" exchange with Peking University as part of his MBA from Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM). Matt also holds an undergraduate degree from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) with a focus on International Business & Marketing and has co-founded 2 businesses in Australia.

Matt joined St. James's Place because he sees the opportunity and potential of providing quality financial advice to clients across the region.

Steven joined St. James’s Place Wealth Management from a very different role as CFO of a local non-governmental think tank in Hong Kong, where he was immersed in social and policy-making matters. This followed time spent working in the retail, transportation, logistics and professional services sectors across Asia, Latin America and Europe.

Steven’s broad interests and experience reflect in his ambition to deliver the highest quality experience to clients in all aspects of policy management, information sharing, client support and service quality.

An avid learner, Steven is a polyglot who wastes no opportunity to travel, try new challenges such as scaling the globe’s various mountains, or to join a trivia team.

Daniel George is the Head of Business for St. James’s Place Middle East. In his role, Daniel is responsible for long term growth strategy in the UAE.  Danny has been in senior management roles at St. James’s Place since 2018, working alongside some of the largest businesses within the SJP network, creating and implementing their individual business plans.

Daniel is an experienced leader with a demonstrated track record in the banking and financial services industry. Prior to SJP, Danny was the Area Director for Nationwide in the UK and Regional Director for the City of London with NatWest, running anything between 50 to 85 retail Bank Branches.

Lisa manages all aspects of Risk, Compliance and AML across our Asia & Middle East offices. 

Her career in financial services began in 1994 as a mortgage advisor and financial advisor with a U.K. bank. In 1998, she moved into a regulatory compliance and audit role, before joining St. James’s Place in 2010 as a London based Risk Manager. She transferred to the Hong Kong office in 2016.

Her role involves regular interactions with clients, front and back-office teams and the regulators in our Asia and Middle East offices. Her main focus is to support the business in its objectives, while ensuring that the interests of clients and key stakeholders are at the forefront of any decisions made. 

Lisa is a Chartered Financial Planner and holds the ICA Advanced Diploma in Anti-Money Laundering, along with a degree in languages. She enjoys traveling whenever possible and embracing different cultures.  

Jerry is a senior leader in the financial services industry, with operating experience in Europe, Asia and South Africa. He joined St. James’s Place in 2019 to lead the corporate strategy division, before being appointed as the Managing Director of SJP Asia in 2023. 

Prior to SJP, Jerry worked for RSA Insurance Group, Direct Line Group, and Old Mutual. 

In 2023, Jerry achieved his Executive MBA degree with the University of Oxford.

Tony has been in the financial services industry for 23 years. Originally a financial adviser, he then spent 12 years with AXA Wealth in the UK as a Business Development Manager, supporting independent financial advisers in relation to the provision of financial planning for their clients. He transferred to St. James’s Place UK in 2012 and to Hong Kong in 2016.

Tony provides tax and technical support to St. James’s Place Partners and clients focusing on UK taxation, trust and estate planning issues for globally mobile clients.

Tony is a cricket and rugby fan, is an avid traveller who enjoys sailing and walking his adopted Hong Kong local dog.