DUNCAN THOMAS ROLAND WEBSTER

BSc; Chief Executive Officer (Date of Birth: 22 April 1980) 
Director of Silk Delta Trading Limited and Silk Alternative Finance

A British citizen, Duncan Webster attended University College London where he graduated with a degree in economics. He joined Eastern Power & Energy Trading (TXU Europe) as a risk management analyst, before moving into tax advisory where he has worked for over ten years, specialising in assisting UHNWI and HNWI individuals. Duncan has varied commercial interests in businesses into which he has invested, from media to medical research. Aside from investments, he has gained experience from assisting clients to structure their investments across a range of asset classes, through which he has developed an extensive and valuable network of individual and corporate contacts. Over the past five years, Duncan has arranged or made investments in the Central European region, including in industrials, renewable power and financial services. Across his career, he has raised over US$100 million for medical research and an equivalent amount for media investments. Duncan founded Silk Alternative Finance in 2021 and has been responsible for the building and delivery of its products and services. He manages the Company’s day-to-day business and its proposed expansion, including the Company Secretarial function.

DAVID ALEXANDER SCOTT

Executive Director (Date of Birth: 17 September 1965)
Director of Silk Alternative Finance

A British citizen, David Scott has over 20 years of corporate broking and investment banking experience in advising small and medium-sized companies on both the Official List and AIM. He has extensive experience in private equity and advising unquoted companies. David began his career in the corporate finance department of L Messel & Co and has since been a director of corporate broking at ING Barings, a director of Resolution Partners Limited and, more recently, a director of corporate finance at Lewis Charles. David is a co-founder of Alexander David Securities and heads the corporate department. David’s role as an Executive Director is to provide support with respect to ongoing business development in the UK market and input into Investment Committee decisions on Projects.

Supporting these there is City Partnership (UK) Ltd, an FCA registered independent firm of professional corporate trustees. City started providing corporate and fund services in 2006. At that time, such outsourced service provision was a well-established alternative to the direct employment of staff to carry out non-core activities. Our ambition was to raise the standard of outsourced services and, wherever possible, lower the fees. In particular, we sought to add value through innovation and we welcomed accountability.

City is wholly owned by its directors and is independent of any other business. Its principal shareholder is its founder and managing director, Robin Smeaton, who, as chief executive of the business services arm of a merchant bank, developed a corporate and fund services business with some £1.5bn funds under administration and 200 UK fund management clients before launching City.

In addition to Robin Smeaton, City’s directors are: Alan Hartley, City’s chairman, who worked with KPMG for over 30 years, 20 as a partner, but now splits his time between acting as chairman of the housebuilding company, McTaggart & Mickel, and serving as a director of several other businesses; Robin Finlayson, formerly a tax partner and managing partner of Ernst & Young, but now sharing his time between City and serving as chairman of Sinnalba Group which specialises in complex project management solutions; and Rudi Smeaton, City’s Director of Operations.

City’s management team comprises:

Robin Smeaton, Managing Director;

Rudi Smeaton, Director of Operations;

Andrew Lecomber-Peace, Director of Receiving Agent & Registrar Services; and

Nicola Darling, Director of Accounting Services

City is registered with the FCA as an Annex 1 Financial Institution.