Chris Barron

What attracted you to a career in wealth management?

My parents couldn’t afford to send me to university and I knew I wanted to get into the investment banking industry from an early age as my older stepbrother had taken a similar path. Having left school in 1998 with an Advanced GNVQ in Business and Finance I wrote to all members of the London Institute of Banking and Finance with the hope someone would give me an opportunity. I was lucky enough to be quickly given a role as an Investment Administrator with Granville PLC where I spent 18 months learning the basics of the industry from scratch.  

After an external takeover at Granville I made the decision to move to Dresdner Kleinwort Benson where I took on a role as a Fee Billing Clerk for two years.

Following this I spent six years with Smith & Williamson as a Stockfile Supervisor and was also involved in a secondment project to write their firmwide operational procedure manuals.

From there I went on in 2008 to take a role with Quilter Cheviot as Client Services and Fee Billing Supervisor. I have been with the firm 16 years now in its various entity changes and have climbed to the role of business director and Head of Revenue Management. During my time here I have studied a number of professional qualifications and am now a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments.

How do you approach your role on a daily basis?

I manage a team covering all aspects of revenue management , fee billing, client administration and reporting to the various Quilter Cheviot front office teams, branches and Finance as well as seeking improvements to services for both new and existing clients. I also specialise in identifying and mitigating potential revenue leakage.

My team and I are extremely fastidious and attention to detail is paramount to ensuring we maintain a high level of accuracy. We pride ourselves on a minimal error rate combined with an effective low turnaround time for requests.

What are your interests outside of work?

My main hobby is live-action roleplaying and wargaming and I regularly take part in local and national events as well as hosting and running these events. I worked as a volunteer staff member for the Lorien Trust International Live Role-playing games system for three years (2008-2010). Over this time I was one of three individuals responsible for the safety, enjoyment and well-being of over 400 people at live role-playing event weekends.

I also have a passion for online gaming and streaming and spend much of my free time participating in this.