THREE directors who worked together at Barclays Wealth have all joined the Bournemouth office of asset management expert Investec.

Steve Hart, Darren Elmes, Rob Jones, have all become senior investment directors with Investec at Midland House, Poole Road, within months, and all have more than 25 years’ experience in discretionary portfolio management.

The company has been in Bournemouth for two decades and was recently announced as a corporate sponsor for Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Scott Jones, divisional director with Investec Wealth & Investment in Bournemouth, said: “They’ve all joined us over a few months.

“They were colleagues at Barclays but we’ve welcomed them as individuals. It’s very much part of our plans to expand the office.

“We’ve had a presence in Bournemouth for over 20 years now. We’re delighted to get these three guys on board. It was a real plus for us to get three people of such calibre. I feel very privileged that people with their experience decided Investec was a good home to go to.”

The office handles around 3,000 clients and around £800m of funds for the private clients it advises on managing their wealth.

It employs around 35 staff and is hiring more. Twelve of the team are front-line investment managers, two are full-time business developers and the rest are investment assistants and secretarial staff.

Steve Hart said the company’s ethos was based on client services rather than just products.

“We’re driven by our relationship with the client,” he said.

“Having acted for some of the clients for 20-25 years and being on the second or third generation of the family gives you a warm relationship.”

Rob Jones said the company aimed to mix tradition and innovation. “We’re here to build and grow a well-established business,” he said.

“If we do a good job for the clients, we take pride in the fact that we get referred to friends and family. Our reputation as individuals and as a business is something we protect with great passion.”

Darren Elmes said it was easy to overlook how well markets were performing despite the world’s economic problems.

“The market’s only 10 per cent off its all time high at the moment. So we haven’t had a bad run recently,” he said.

“It’s easy to lose sight of how well we’ve done during the recovery.”