Ex-rugby star joins Adam & Co as development chief

Private bank Adam & Co has reshuffled its management team and hired former Scotland rugby union captain Andy Nicol as head of business development.

Adam & Co chief executive David Cathie said the newly created role will see Nicol tasked with developing networks across different sectors and building client relationships.

‘Andy will be a great addition to our business,’ he said. ‘His experience in business development and networking within the private banking arena and beyond will be hugely valuable in our aspirations to take our business from strength to strength.’

Nicol, who represented the Barbarians and British Lions, and captained Scotland during a successful career with Bath, retired from the game in 2003. Since then he has been a regular BBC presenter while writing regular columns for The Herald and working as an after-dinner speaker.

He has also been involved with RBS Private Banking since 2006, starting as a business development manager before moving on to become area manager of private Clients in 2009.

In addition to Nicol’s arrival, Adam & Co has rejigged its Scottish private banking team. A new role as a senior client partner has been created for Adam & Co veteran Richard Lockhart, currently a director of banking in Edinburgh.

In his new capacity, Lockhart will be focusing on ultra high net worth clients. He will also be working closely with the Coutts Wealth Institute, which is a team of advisers acting within the family business and philanthropy arena.

As part of Adam & Co’s greater integration with sister company Coutts, the Wealth Institute will now advise Adam clients who have multi-generational levels of wealth and require sophisticated care.

Lockhart, who has been at Adam for more than 20 years, said this area would be further expanded in the near future.

‘My portfolio will comprise clients who will typically be self-made entrepreneurs and business owners who will have complicated investment, wealth structuring and financial planning requirements, and who will require specific expertise about passing wealth down through future generations.