Banking veteran Entwistle becomes Bonhams chairman

Auctioneers Bonhams has announced that veteran banker Ray Entwistle is to replace Simon Miller as chairman of its Scottish operation.

“Ray has a longstanding interest in the arts and his reputation in the business and financial world will bring a great deal to our team,” said Bonhams Scotland managing director Miranda Leslie.

Entwistle, a former chairman of Edinburgh-based private bank Adam & Company, is also the founder of Scotland’s newest bank, Hampden and Co, which he established in 2015 and of which he continues to be Chairman.

Mr Entwistle said in a statement: “I’m honoured to have been asked to become Bonhams new chairman and to follow in Simon Miller’s very capable footsteps.

“I have enjoyed buying art at auction for many years and I am greatly looking forward to becoming more deeply involved in a world that has always been dear to my heart.”

Mr Leslie, managing director of Bonhams Scotland, added: “Scotland remains an important location for discovering objects to sell internationally as well as here at home and Ray’s global perspective will be a great resource on which to draw.”

Hampden & Co opened for business last summer five years after getting itself first in the queue for a banking licence in what was then the government’s new streamlined process.

By the time it opened its doors on Edinburgh’s Charlotte Square – it has a second office in Soho, London – it had raised nearly £50 million in capital from 250 shareholders.

It is the UK’s first new private bank in 30 years.