Our History
How our business has grown.
April 2003
Our First Step
Established in 2003, Estate Capital is a firm of Chartered Financial advisers. We are entirely independent and authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Estate Capital was set up by founder Chris Davies.
January 2004
In House Portfolios
In 2004 we first started to research and publish our own in house investment portfolios. Powered by systems and data from Morningstar, Willis Towers Watson, Financial Express and Rayner Spencer Mills Research we publish nine risk related model investment portfolios.
Our analysis and research is quite unique in financial advice practices.
September 2005
New offices at 10 Uplands Crescent
In 2003, Estate Capital initially worked out of rented offices in Central Swansea, then moved to our first permanent office in Uplands Crescent in 2005.
July 2006
Estate Capital Croquet Tournament
Every year since 2006, Estate Capital has hosted the now famous Estate Capital Croquet Tournament.
Held every July and played between teams representing local professional services firms, the event regularly raises between £1,500 and £2,000 for the Lord Mayor of Swansea’s local charity appeal.
June 2010
Granted Chartered Financial Planner Status
After many years of additional academic study Chris Davies successfully qualified as a Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) Chartered Financial Planner. This is the gold standard of financial advice qualification. Kimberly George soon followed Chris in gaining the same level of qualification. Kim was the youngest ever recipient of CII Chartered status in Wales.
Still today less than 10% of all professional financial Advisers in Wales hold this level of qualification. We have four members of our current staff working towards this qualification.
January 2015
Acquired Respected Advisory Firm TH Martin Ltd.
In 2015, Estate Capital acquired Swansea’s oldest and highly respected advisory firm TH Martin Ltd. In doing so we increased our clients, assets under management and staff numbers.
Estate Capital now provides financial advice to 19 of West Wales 100 largest companies.
May 2015
Phil Johnson joined as Pension Director
After a nearly 30 year career working for national insurance companies specialising in technical pension’s advice to financial advisers, Phil accepted the role of Pensions Director and financial adviser in Estate Capital. With Phil and Kate White both joining the team the range of advanced technical knowledge around pension transfers has broadened our service offering.
October 2015
Academic Sponsorship Programme
In 2015, Estate Capital started an academic sponsorship programme for our colleague Tomiko Evans.
We initially supported her through an MSc in Financial Forecasting and now through a PhD in Finance at Swansea University.
£100m
Under Management
May 2016
£100m Under Management
Being responsible for £100 million of our client’s life savings is an enormous responsibility and one we take very seriously. Our investors are reassured by our thorough and ongoing due diligence, in house research and clear and transparent processes that has led to our nine risk related portfolios constantly beating the national average performance benchmarks.
September 2016
New offices at 7 Uplands Crescent
With the acquisition of TH Martin Ltd, the growth in clients, advisers and support staff, our business needed larger premises. The ideal solution sat just across the road from us. No7 Uplands Crescent is now a fully renovated and restored Victorian town house. We have retained and added to its original style and charm, making it a wonderful working environment for the 15 colleagues who now work in or alongside Estate Capital. We have client and staff car parking to the rear of our office.
December 2017
Graduate Training Programme Launched
As a business we wanted to start training the financial professionals for the future. We launched our graduate training programme with recruiting Swansea University graduates Catherine Bevan in December 2017 and Jenna Williams in February 2018. Sam Hyde joined our graduate training programme in 2021 and Sam Dennis followed in 2022.
January 2018
Company Expanded With Significant Growth
In 2017, the company expanded considerably with significant growth in new clients and funds under management.
In order to further develop and enhance our client advice and service we were joined by Kevin Jones who has taken over responsibility for our corporate services and client advice.
£200m
Under Management
May 2018
£200m Under Management
Being responsible for in excess of £200 million of our client’s life savings is an enormous responsibility and one we take very seriously. Our investors are reassured by our thorough and ongoing due diligence, in house research and clear and transparent processes that has led to our nine risk related portfolios constantly beating the national average performance benchmarks.
December 2018
FT Adviser Top 100 Financial Advisers 2018
In 2018, we were delighted that Estate Capital has made the FT Adviser Top 100 Financial Advisers list for 2018.
This list sets out to showcase some of the best financial advisers in the UK. The list is, as expected dominated by large national corporations including stockbrokers, wealth management divisions of banks and insurance companies. Estate Capital making the list is quite an achievement.
The list takes into consideration investment strategies, new business levels, client satisfaction and how highly qualified the advisers are. Estate Capital was the only Welsh business to make the list.
January 2019
Granted Discretionary Permissions
After four years of supporting the academic research work of Tomiko, we have invested into a separate FCA authorised company to offer investment portfolios using the results of her academic research. Along with seven other shareholders we have set up Crossing Point Investment Management Ltd. Through this new company we will be able to offer clients an extended range and style of portfolios. This new range will include trend following momentum theory passive portfolios, sustainable and ethical investments and closed ended investment trust portfolios.
May 2019
Adopted Pension Transfer Gold Standard status
Estate Capital has adopted the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) and Personal Finance Society (PFS) Pension Transfer Gold Status. This new status is based around nine principles designed to deliver advice in the area of pension transfers that adheres to high professional standards.
Helping you recognise good practice, ethical and professional standards when seeking financial advice on pension transfers.
July 2019
Estate Capital 12th Annual Croquet Tournament
Estate Capital held their 12th annual Charity Croquet Tournament on Friday 6th July. The event was hosted by Lord Mayor Cllr Peter Black and held for the second time at the Lord Mayors Mansion House in Ffynone. Twelve teams, representing leading professional services firms competed over four hours to win the prestigious trophy.
In total, we raised £1,000 in charity donations and very kindly Barclays Bank match funded the amount raised. Lord Mayor Peter Black was delighted that his local Swansea charities will receive such a large donation.
January 2020
Intelligent Office migration
Estate Capital migrated its back-office data base to a new provider Intelligent Office. This task was a considerable exercise, as over 16 years of client data and investment data was transferred. The migration went well and our business management improved by the move.
£330m
Under Management
February 2020
£330m Under Management
Being responsible for in excess of £330 million of our client’s life savings is an enormous responsibility and one we take very seriously. Our investors are reassured by our thorough and ongoing due diligence, in house research and clear and transparent processes that has led to our seven risk related portfolios constantly beating the national average performance benchmarks. We now manage £338 million across 6640 plans.
February 2020
Crossing Point Investment Management
Crossing Point Investment Management has gone live offering investors a range of 12 different portfolios. The Guardian portfolios are designed to provide attractive and consistent returns, while aiming to minimise volatility, drawdown, sequencing risk and cost. The Green Path ESG portfolios select investments that support the wellbeing of our environment and society and the Heritage portfolios aim for capital returns by utilising investment trusts to increase diversification and reduce fees over longer investment horizons. The Crossing Point portfolios will broaden the range of investment strategies we can offer.
October 2023
FT Adviser Top 100 Financial Advisers 2023
In 2018, we were delighted that Estate Capital made the FT Adviser Top 100 Financial Advisers list. We are again delighted to confirm we have made it into the 2023 FT Adviser Top 100 Financial Advisers list.
This list sets out to showcase some of the best financial advisers in the UK. The list is, as expected dominated by large national corporations including stockbrokers, wealth management divisions of banks and insurance companies. Estate Capital making the list is quite an achievement.
The list takes into consideration investment strategies, new business trends, range of services, client satisfaction and how qualified the advisers are.
January 2024
Robin Burden joins Estate Capital
Robin is an experienced Chartered Financial Adviser. He has in the past worked for several Financial Services firms primarily as a Financial Adviser in Swansea. He initially joined our research team and has helped support us with research, analysis, and suitability of advice reports for clients. His focus is on insurance, pensions, investments, and trusts.
He has now returned to financial planning and is focusing on his own clients and providing them with detailed and relevant financial planning, wealth creating and wealth preserving advice.
Robin is very experienced and knowledgeable. He has the CII Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning. Robin is a graduate with BA (Hons) in Business and is qualified as a CII Chartered Financial Planner. Estate Capital is one of the very few firms in South Wales to have two Chartered Financial planners working within it.
January 2024
Crossing Point Portfolios
Since 2004 we have conducted our own in-house research to produce our advisory managed investment portfolios. Our portfolios have enjoyed a 20-year track record of consistent performance, a track record that we are very proud off.
The January 2024 Edition of the Estate Capital Investment portfolios is likely to be our last version of our popular and successful portfolios. We intend to move the management of these portfolios over to our sister company Crossing Point Investment management so that the portfolios can be managed on a discretionary basis at lower or similar cost. The portfolios are selected, reviewed, and managed on the same basis as before by Chris Davies and Dr Tomiko Evans.
We believe that there are material benefits to our clients from discretionary management and cost savings.
September 2025
Crossing Point Hits £250 Million
The success of the Crossing Point Portfolio range continued with the launch of the Growth and Passive Portfolios in 2023. These portfolios have performed very well against national average performance benchmark. This has now lead to Crossing Point managing in excess of £250 million of client’s assets.
September 2025
FT Adviser Top 50 Financial Advisers 2025
We are particularly pleased to be recognised by the FT Advisers Magazine to be a UK Top 50 boutique IFA firm. This award is aimed at High Street firms with less than 10 advisers so is a very relevant award. To be in the UK Top 50 firms in this category is a meaningful achievement and one we are very proud of.
November 2025
Sam Hyde starts his Financial Adviser Training
Sam Hyde joined Estate Capital in September 2021 having graduated from Exeter University. Sam has over the past four years been working in our Client Services Team and has obtained his CII Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning. Sam has now started his training programme to join the Financial Advice Team. We wish him every success in his career with us.