Two former RBC Wealth managers have launched a new HNW wealth adviser called Six Degrees.

City of London-based Six Degrees is a fully independent firm committed, it says, to providing “value-driven advice.”

The firm will focus on HNW clients with investable assets from £3m to £50m and will seek to bridge what it calls the 'HNW Advice Gap.’

The co-founders are Katherine Waller and Ollie Saiman. The pair have over 40 years of combined global banking experience, including more than a decade at RBC. They were members of the RBC Wealth UK Senior Leadership Team.

Joining them as chief operating office is Victoria Sena who worked for eight years at the Bank of England and has been a regulatory consultant and COO of a boutique asset manager.

Six Degrees operates under the trading name of Six Degrees Wealth Limited and is an appointed representative of network ValidPath.

Ms Waller said: “Our ethos is based on our conviction that wealth is an emotive subject. Without uncovering the purpose of someone’s wealth, the idea of delivering a meaningful wealth strategy is simply a stab in the dark. Combine an understanding of the wealth’s ultimate purpose, with an individual’s background, their influences and their values, and you get a much richer and more fulfilling strategy.”

Mr Saiman added: “We found that most advisers and most clients tend to turn up to meetings with only their left brain, bringing facts, figures, and expecting a discussion about investment performance. We are excited to create an advisory business where the right brain is always invited, where it is made to feel welcome, and where empathy and creativity are encouraged rather than supressed”.

The founders believe that traditional banking models often position wealth planning as a product, resulting in newly wealthy UK-domiciled HNWIs paying disproportionately higher fees for similar services compared to retail customers. 

The firm’s investment philosophy focuses on an evidence-based approach to index investing.

Six Degrees is working with a number of “technology pioneers” to offer clients “comprehensive one-screen mobile visibility” into their financial lives, it said.

The new firm is focused on UK-based clients, including families, entrepreneurs, and business leaders, aligning with the increasing proportion of HNWIs who are UK domiciled or ‘deemed domiciled.’