The people that manage your investments

“Our views are grounded in evidence, and we assiduously assess data in a structured, repeated fashion to best analyse the balance of probabilities and take sensible risks.”

Fahad joined Coutts in 2023 and heads the investment and risk teams, which manage £50 billion (as of August 2025) of customers’ money.

Before Coutts, he was CIO at Kleinwort Hambros, Société Générale’s wholly owned UK private bank, where he chaired their investment committee, and was one of three voting members on Société Générale Private Bank’s global investment committee.

He has also held positions at the United States Agency for International Development and Institutional Shareholder Services.

Fahad holds a BA in Economics from the George Washington University in Washington DC and an MBA from the Cass Business School in London. 

“Our approach to asset allocation is built on discipline and client-first thinking, balancing long-term conviction with the agility to respond to changing market conditions.”

Monique joined Coutts in November 2012 in the newly launched Active Advisory team, and moved to the Portfolio Management team to manage discretionary assets in April 2016.

As Head of Multi-Asset Portfolio Management, she leads both the Portfolio Management and Fund Research teams. The Funds team is responsible for delivering investment routes to market, while the Portfolio Management team cascades the house view into portfolios, aligning asset allocation with clients’ goals and risk profiles. At a strategic level, she is essential in creating the house view through our investment process and making sure it is consistently reflected across portfolio construction.

She has over 25 years’ experience in investment strategy and portfolio design, bringing technical expertise and translating market dynamics into clear actionable investment and portfolio solutions.

“Our investment process is transparent, intuitive, and rooted in rigorous analysis. It enables us to construct robust portfolios tailored to each client’s risk tolerance and financial goals. Given the inherent volatility of markets, it's essential to minimize emotional bias. That’s why our process is designed to be objective and agnostic, helping us consistently separate meaningful signals from market noise.”

Lilian joined Coutts in February 2017, bringing experience from the Hedge Fund and Pension Fund sectors. Early exposure to managing investments through both quantitative and fundamental research has shaped his distinctive approach to understanding asset class behaviour and building resilient investment strategies that deliver strong outcomes for customers.

As Head of Asset Allocation, he advocates for a disciplined and data-driven approach to managing wealth. 

“A key part of our investment philosophy is that we methodically exploit market dislocations. Markets often react emotionally in the short term, creating opportunities when prices move away from underlying value. By focusing on economic fundamentals—not market noise—we aim to turn these short-term mispricings into long-term gains.“

James, a Senior Portfolio Manager, joined Coutts in September 2015.

He has a broad and well-rounded understanding of asset classes, built from a career that began in trading and investment research before moving into portfolio management. This depth of experience allows him to construct and manage client portfolios with a strong focus on long-term value.

James has specialised expertise in fixed income.

“We have one Chief Investment Officer and a single investment platform. That’s quite rare in our industry and it’s very beneficial for our clients."

James joined Coutts in 2025 and brought with him experience of leading investment and product teams from some of the world’s largest wealth managers. This experience helps him to deliver efficiency and scale while maintaining customer focus.

James has a varied role and particularly enjoys working with teams and projects that are undergoing strategy refreshes or significant growth. He is currently working with the Responsible Investing team and is building a new Investment Content and Thought Leadership team.