Star exec at Arbuthnot ditches City
CITY broker Arbuthnot has lost the rising star chief executive of its wealth management business, Dean Proctor, who has quit to move to Qatar.
Proctor (pictured) will leave the bank in the first quarter of next year to take an executive role at Qatari lender Commercialbank, in a move that his colleagues said was a sign that the City is failing to hang onto top talent.
Arbuthnot executives blamed a combination of high personal taxes, an increasing burden of regulation and the toxic political climate for those who work in finance for Proctor’s departure.
“The pre-eminence of the City of London and the UK’s financial services business will be damaged unless steps are taken to ensure that the business environment… remains competitive,” said Arbuthnot chairman and chief executive Henry Angest.
“Dean Proctor leaving to pursue his career elsewhere in the world is to me a further example of the danger of not maintaining a strong enterprise culture in the UK.”
A source close to the situation said that the prospect of a larger and less regulated pay package in Qatar was one factor in Proctor’s decision.
But it is also understood that Proctor believes a cash-rich, growing economy like Qatar offers better career opportunities due to its attitude towards wealth creation.
The bank has found a successor for Proctor, but he has yet to get formal regulatory approval.