Three Sixty Financial, a Kuala Lumpur-based advisory firm led by by UK-trained financial professionals, has taken on the clients of the beleaguered, expat-focused Montpelier firm also located in KL, according to a letter being sent to clients.
In a copy of the letter, obtained by International Investment, Keith Bayliss, a director of Montpelier, told a Montpelier client that “the servicing of your client account has now been transferred to Three Sixty Financial, a highly respected financial advisory firm based in Malaysia”, in the wake of a management restructure that involved the suspension and subsequent resignation of two of Montpelier’s directors, Stuart Williamson and Diane Docherty.
The management restructure, Bayliss said, had been brought about in the wake of the 2014 acquisition of Montpelier by a company called UniCap Global Ltd – of which Bayliss said he was a shareholder – which had been looking to expand into the financial services business in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
UniCap, he added, is “close to completing the acquisitions of two brokerages based in Malaysia and also two further brokerages; one in Hong Kong and one in China”. Bayliss didn’t name the businesses.
As reported, Montpelier was originally reported to have closed in February, “pending an audit of business operations” according to a memo, after two employees were suspended. According to an anonymous tip-off received by International Investment at the time, the employees were named as Stuart Williamson, former Montpelier chief executive, and director Diane Doherty.
In his letter to clients Bayliss added that Williamson and Doherty have now both resigned from the firm and he warned the client that any recent or future correspondence received from the pair should be ignored.
He said: “UniCap Global Limited is close to completing the acquisitions of two brokerages based in Malaysia and also two further brokerages; one in Hong Kong and one in China.
“Consequently, a management restructure has been necessary and, as part of this, two of Montpelier’s directors, Stuart Williamson and Diane Docherty, were suspended from the company and have subsequently resigned.”
