Following the unexpected death of Daniel Freedman, aged 59, staff at his London & Capital wealth management group are pulling together to prepare for a future without their charismatic founder and long-term leader.
The firm’s history of facing both challenges and opportunities over four decades has proved an absorbing one, given its growth against a shifting UK regulatory backdrop, footprint in several continents and the influence of a tough but family-focused leader.
The passing of Mr Freedman – from a heart attack in London during recovery from a tragic accident at his Portuguese villa – was shocking to those who knew him, as he was clearly in rude health, with bold plans to take the fight to global private banking heavyweights in his home market.
A larger-than-life character who bestrode his trading floor in the West End’s Mortimer Street, while also carefully and diplomatically negotiating the financial needs of north London’s Jewish community, Mr Freedman was a keen footballer and avid supporter of Tottenham Hotspur.
Together with my FT colleagues, I had the privilege of playing against him on several occasions. As in the office, he commanded his own space on the pitch and appeared to relax before suddenly firing a fierce volley. Those who challenged him either at work or under the five-a-side floodlights of Camden Town could expect a robust response.
Mr Freedman was never the typical wealth manager and many mistakenly saw him purely as a throwback to the 1980s’, pre-regulation days of life assurance company Allied Dunbar, where he earned his spurs, together with L&C co-founder Richard Leigh.
In fact, creating the new firm from scratch in 1986 meant turning their backs on the single-product push mentality which defined Dunbar. Instead, they pioneered a multi-manager approach to running client assets. Those who knew Mr Freedman in the late 1980s describe him as “a machine of ideas, conquering London” with his “street fighting firm”.
An outwardly brash demeanour meant he was not always popular in the financial services community. Yet those who knew him only by reputation had not experienced his genuine warmth and desire to help clients, colleagues and their families and often failed to notice his vision and constant re-assessment of trends shaping the financial world.
He pursued the idea of going international very early on, when the UK was still a generally domestic market. By 1989, he was SEC-regulated for US business, attracting clients in the film and entertainment business, which became a serious part of his Los Angeles-based offering in the mid 1990s. At the same time, Mr Leigh was making parallel moves into South Africa and the Far East. In those days, the hugely ambitious firm was looking after £30m ($39m) worth of assets. Today that figure is closer to £3.5bn.
Revelling in his image of tough-talking, industry disruptor, Mr Freedman could be antagonistic to new regulation and intolerant of industry practices that did not chime with the sales culture of his younger days.
“Dan could be very headstrong and outspoken in what is normally seen as a genteel industry,” says Iain Tait, who Mr Freedman recruited to the firm in 2006. “But this was because he always had a singular focus on what was best for the client.”
A key achievement was his early realisation that while he had a business brain, he was not necessarily the best arbiter of investment strategy. In 2002, he recruited Ashok Shah to spearhead and institutionalise the investment desk to make these decisions, based on an absolute return model, mixing in both direct investments and funds. These services began to appeal to both entrepreneurs and investment professionals suffering “big bank fatigue”.
The global financial crisis sparked a sea-change in the company’s culture, moving from a sales to investment-based mindset. Post-crisis, Mr Freedman began to concentrate more on US opportunities, by now centred in Miami, where he catered for Latin American and reinsurance clients.
These commitments continued until 2018, when he began to delegate responsibilities for a portfolio worth more than £1bn to US director Rob Paul. He also returned to advising clients in his tightly-knit north London family, business and sporting networks.
Succession planning was also on his mind and Mr Freedman was in the process of handing over the L&C reins to private investment office boss Mr Tait, chief investment officer Pau Morilla-Giner and chief operating officer Guy McGlashan, formerly of Coutts and Kleinwort Benson, who now takes over as chief executive.
“We have been to many meetings with Dan when he has counselled bereaved families,” recalls a colleague. “We can now hear his advice echoing around our floor: ‘You have to get on with life.’”
Mr Freedman is survived by his wife Elaine and daughters Laura and Samantha.
