The Truth About Holborn Assets & Holborn Property Investments

The Time is Now!!

Following the GDPR breaches that directly affected myself and my own personal data, I was contacted reference the closing of the Sri Lanka office and its correlation with said regulatory breaches. During my tenure, Holborn Assets had strict procedures around staff attempting to print their client lists or any data off. This is normal for most firms, especially in our industry, although the feeling adopted by Holborn was one of a more paranoid nature. And for good reason….

Background

“The Time Is Now” a phrase which dominated press releases issued by Holborn Assets about the unveiling of the Sri Lanka office in 2017.

“The well-regarded family (*Hahahaha) owned business which currently predominantly caters to the British expat community, has over 300 employees and 100 consultants. In 2016 the company grew by 21% and according to COO Name) has further ambitious growth plans for 2017 targeting a 50% increase.

Of particular interest is the ‘At Retirement’ market, Holborn’s fastest growing area of the business and an exciting opportunity for everyone in the industry.

In order to support further development it is essential we bolster our Sri Lanka operations significantly. Certainly in these times of changing global regulation it is more important than ever to provide our 15,000 or so clients with a first class service in order to retain them and grow our reputation, as the market becomes less sales orientated and more client driven. To ensure we get that support both from a quality and quantity standpoint we made the decision to send to Sri Lanka our very best, someone who has for the past five years been fully immersed in the business culture of Holborn and understands our core DNA, someone who has been intimately involved in all aspects of our operational planning and also the architect of the Group’s last two strategic plans, (Managing Director Name),” (COO Surname) announced.

Under the slogan ‘2017 – The Time is Now,’ the company will focus on expanding its head count in the core areas of client service, dealing desk, pensions administration, research and its digital marketing function. (note: a hub for client data)

We’re taking Sri Lanka very seriously and are excited to see (Managing Director Name) accept this key role in the organisation going forward, and expect great things from both him and the team here,” (COO Name) told the staff at the dinner event.“

So a company promoting its long serving Director of Corporate Development to Managing Director, a company targeting a 50% increase in growth and a company making such a song and dance in the media about the Sri lanka office.

Why was an office of such significance shut down and the Managing Director (who worked for Holborn for over 10 years and has family occupying other director positions) dismissed?

Well, as I previously eluded to, there was a catastrophic data breach in the Sri Lanka office. The entire client database was ultimately made available for sale. This included all client information, D.O.B, contact details, details of their investments, who the clients advisor was.

Typically this was dealt with in standard Holborn fashion. NDAs signed, Threats made, and the “we do what we want, how we want, when we want” approach with zero regard for what is right, wrong or legal!

“A well regarded family business”…. Probably the biggest lie of them all!