Citywealth Leaders List: Top 100 Scotland and Northern England Wealth Advisors and Managers 2026
Byline: Karen Jones, founder of Citywealth, has more than 20 years’ experience in global private wealth.
Scotland’s landed estates have long attracted international buyers, but there is a new American dimension to the market. Edinburgh was the most popular UK city for prospective US buyers in 2025, according to Rightmove data cited by Brodies, with Glasgow, Highland, Argyll and Bute and Fife also making the top ten. US enquiries about UK property had risen 19% year on year by May 2025. More recently, reports suggest the interest is translating into moves: the Guardian reported this month on a 63% rise in Americans renting homes in Scotland since 2024.
The pull extends beyond city apartments. Scotland’s rural market includes castles, sporting properties, farms, woodland and amenity estates, bringing wealthy international buyers into a world where property ownership is tied to succession, tax, land management and increasingly conservation. The Scottish Land Commission says demand for small and amenity estates remained steady through 2025, even as the wider rural land market slowed. For advisers, an American buyer can also bring a second layer of complexity: US and UK tax, Scottish succession rules, wills on both sides of the Atlantic and the treatment of US trusts all need to be considered.
There are some colourful precedents. Bob Dylan and his brother bought the 25-acre Aultmore House estate in the Cairngorms in 2006, keeping it for 17 years before selling it for £4.26 million in 2023. This summer, Florida sea captain Lance Holmquist and his wife Suzanne bought Carbisdale Castle in Sutherland after spending three years looking for a Scottish castle. And the appetite for a Scottish estate is not confined to Americans: comedian Alan Carr has bought the 160-acre Ayton Castle in the Scottish Borders for about £3.5 million and is moving there, with the restoration becoming the subject of a television series.
The result is a changing private-client landscape. A Scottish estate may be bought for lifestyle, family, heritage or investment reasons, but its acquisition can quickly involve lawyers, tax advisers, wealth managers, land agents and succession specialists. For firms across Scotland and northern England, the growing transatlantic connection is therefore about considerably more than selling beautiful houses. It is creating a new generation of cross-border private clients whose wealth, families and assets may sit on both sides of the Atlantic.
Compiled by: Karen Jones who is the founder of Citywealth and a wealth management commentator with more than 20 years’ experience across global private wealth, family offices and succession. Before founding Citywealth in 2005, she held commercial roles at The Times and The Sunday Times, London; Legal Business magazine and worked on the Asia Pacific Legal 500, launching related awards.
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Alan Barr
Partner, Head of Personal Tax Planning
Brodies
Alex Gunn
Consultant
Anderson Strathern
Alisdair Dewar
Senior Director, Head of Office – Edinburgh
RBC Wealth Management
Alison Parry
Partner, Head of Private Wealth Disputes
JMW
Amber Heron
Personal Tax Director
Harper Macleod
Andrea Jones
Partner & National Head of Private Client Advisory
Irwin Mitchell
Andrew Bennie
Senior Investment Director, Investment Team Head
Brooks Macdonald
Andrew Sloan
Client Advisor; entrepreneurial clients
UBS
Andy Carroll
Client Advisor; entrepreneurs & business owners
UBS
Andy Cunningham
Private banking / regional leadership
Barclays Private Bank
Ben Eardley
Private Banker, UHNW clients
Barclays Private Bank
Ben Griffiths
Investment Director
Rathbones
Bob Hair
Head of UK Regions
Cazenove Capital
Bradley Russell
Regional Head, Manchester/North West
UBS
Cara Nuttall
Partner, Head of Family
Brabners
Chris Etherington
Partner, Private Client Tax
RSM UK
Chris Smith
Tax Director, Family Office and Private Client Tax
KPMG UK
Debjani Raffan
Regional Head, Northern Business
UBS
Dennis McGrath
Director, Wealth Manager
RBC Wealth Management
Diane Benussi
Consultant; HNW matrimonial and family law
Benussi & Co
Dominic Hughes
Senior Investment Director
Rathbones
Duncan Gourlay
Deputy Head of Private Clients
Weatherbys Private Bank
Eleanor Kerr
Partner
Shepherd and Wedderburn
Elspeth Kinder
Partner, Head of Family
JMW
Fahim Amdani
Wealth Manager
LGT Wealth Management
Freddie Woodhead
Senior Investment Manager
JM Finn
Gavin McEwan
Partner, Head of Charities
Turcan Connell
George Hill
Private Banker
Barclays Private Bank
Graham Wood
Partner, Tax & Estate Planning
Kuits
Harriet Campbell
Partner
Womble Bond Dickinson
Harry Stockdale
Investment Manager; Private Office/UHNW
LGT Wealth Management
Hayley Robinson
Private Banker; landed estates specialist
Weatherbys Private Bank
Heidi Wright
Wealth Manager
Barclays Wealth Management
Henry Peterkin
Wealth Manager
LGT Wealth Management
Hugo Till
Investment Director
JM Finn
Ian Macdonald
Partner / Head of Private Client Practice
Wright Johnston & Mackenzie
James Brown
Co-founder / family lawyer
Hall Brown
John Godfrey
Head of Scotland & Wealth Manager
LGT Wealth Management
Jordan Hazelhurst
Private Banker
Barclays Private Bank
Justin Armet
Investment Director
Rathbones
Kate Aitchison
Partner, Private Client
RSM UK
Kyle Hamilton
Associate Director, Wealth Manager
RBC Wealth Management
Laurence Jackson
Private Banker
Weatherbys Private Bank
Lee Stamp
Private Client Partner and North Region Private Client Leader
PwC
Lisa Macpherson-Fletcher
Tax Partner, Private Client Advisory
RSM UK
Lucy Robson
UK Firm Tax Leader, Law Firm Advisory Group
PwC
Lynne Lamont
Senior Director, Head of Charities – UK
RBC Wealth Management
Lynsey Carson
Business Development Director, Scotland & North
Cazenove Capital
Mark McKeown
Legal Director, philanthropy
Turcan Connell
Michael Simon
Director, Wealth Manager
RBC Wealth Management
Michelle Duncalf
Senior Private Banker & Team Lead
Weatherbys Private Bank
Mike Discombe
Wealth Manager
Barclays Private Bank
Nick Keenan
Head of Edinburgh Office
Cazenove Capital
Pamela Niven
Partner and Head of Private Client
Harper Macleod
Paul Lumley
Office founder / adviser
Redmayne Bentley
Paula Myers
Partner
Womble Bond Dickinson
Pervinder Kaur
Partner, Private Wealth
Addleshaw Goddard
Peter Shand
Partner
Murray Beith Murray
Rebecca Durrant
Partner, National Head of Private Clients
Crowe
Richard Wilde
Investment Director
Rathbones
Richard Bate
Partner, Head of Private Wealth
Weightmans
Robert Morse
Senior Partner, Chartered Financial Planner
The Private Office
Sam Hall
Senior Partner
Hall Brown Family Law
Scott Hunter
Legal Director
Turcan Connell
Simon Reeks
Head of Manchester & Investment Manager
LGT Wealth Management
Stewart Shaw
Client Advisor, Scotland
UBS
Susan Tait
Partner
The Private Office (TPO)
Tim Bailey
Executive Director / Portfolio Director
Julius Baer
Tom Fleming
Assistant Director
Rothschild & Co
William Hagen
Senior Investment Manager
JM Finn
Yorke Eaton
Partner, Head of Private Wealth
Addleshaw Goddard
