Fiduciary specialist, Nick Batiste, promoted to MD of Safferys Guernsey

Nick Batiste has been appointed managing director of Saffery Champness in Guernsey with effect from 1 April 2014.

Nick Batiste joined Saffery Champness over 21 years ago and has worked his way up through the ranks of the firm, which has 113 employees based on the island.

He succeeds Kelvin Hudson, who has been managing director of Saffery Champness in Guernsey for 13 years and will remain in the full-time senior role of executive chairman, while also devoting more time to his principal practice area, managing the affairs of ultra high net worth private clients.

The move follows Nick’s appointment, in 2012, to the boards of Saffery Champness Holdings Limited, on which he assumed responsibility as finance director, and Saffery Champness SARL. He is also a director of both the fiduciary and fund arms of the Guernsey business.

Nick Batiste joined the Guernsey office in 1992, qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant in 2000 and was admitted as a fellow in 2005.

With an increasing number of mergers and acquisitions within the fiduciary sector in recent years, Saffery Champness remains one of Guernsey’s few independent trust businesses. Kelvin Hudson said:

“Nick has been a loyal and committed employee of Saffery Champness for more than two decades and has worked at every level in the fiduciary business. One might describe him as a product of the firm’s development.

“Having decided to relinquish the day-to-day running of the business, I am confident that he will make an excellent managing director, well-equipped to take the business forward.”

Nick Batiste commented:

“I look forward to working with my fellow directors to plan and implement the future strategy for the Guernsey business and further build on the solid foundations established under Kelvin’s leadership.”