West Yorkshire-based financial services growth consultant, The City & Capital Group, has added 35 years of additional mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and talent attraction expertise to its CV, with the appointment of two directors.
Jonathan Barrow has been named as the firm’s director of City & Capital Acquisitions, while Mike Aitchison has come on board as director of City & Capital Headhunters. The duo joins company owners – and husband-and-wife team – Stuart and Victoria Hicks as senior decision-makers at the Leeds-headquartered Group.
Onboarded prior to the global disruption caused by COVID-19, the pair of appointments are designed to support plans for further growth within the wealth management M&A space, expansion into wider markets and as-yet-untapped financial services sectors.
Victoria Hicks (pictured), Group director, said: “These appointments signify The City & Capital Group’s ambitions for further growth – not only within the markets that we operate in with great success, but to new and upcoming markets across the finance and professional sectors.”
“With the addition of such experience, both in terms of financial services, mergers and acquisitions as well as senior recruitment, the appointment of Mike and Johnny will also assist in the growth of the team, their development and ultimately the business itself.”
Bringing with him circa 15 years of financial services experience – particularly across M&A – Jonathan Barrow will be working alongside chartered financial planner, and MD of the Acquisitions division, Victoria Hicks.
Having worked with a variety of clients – on both the sale and buyer-side – across private equity-backed firms, PLCs, national firms and start-ups, Jonathan has been involved in almost one hundred mergers and acquisitions within the wealth management space to-date, and brings with him an extensive national network.
Jonathan’s role will see him focus on the strategic development of the division through the creation of robust systems and processes, designed to provide clients with the ‘most efficient, stress-minimising processes within the FA M&A space’.
Meanwhile, Mike Aitchison joins Group founder Stuart Hicks in pushing forward the headhunting and recruitment arms. Following 20 years’ experience within the financial services sector, the last 13 of those have been spent recruiting for a wide range of specialist lenders, insurers, BPO providers and fintech businesses.
Having worked within global listed human capital companies, top tier boardroom search firms and owned his own firm to boot, Mike’s experience ‘in the shoes of’ the client, candidate and recruiter promises to offer a more holistic insight into the selection process.
Since the firm’s inception in 2017, the financial services specialists have overseen the management and delivery of many major senior recruitment placements within the financial services industry, as well as the sale and acquisition of companies and client banks within the financial advisory sector.
Despite the current climate, they continue to go from strength to strength, offering a range of services to their clients that have proven results, delivering these by drawing upon real-world experiences in a way that continues to make them stand out within this competitive space.
