IT is back to “business as usual” for four senior investment managers at the Ipswich office of stockbroker J M Finn & Co who are now free from contractual restrictions that have been in place since leaving their previous employer more than a year ago.

IT is back to “business as usual” for four senior investment managers at the Ipswich office of stockbroker J M Finn & Co who are now free from contractual restrictions that have been in place since leaving their previous employer more than a year ago.

Andrew Norman-Butler, Bruce Johnson, Patrick Hunter-Jones & David Overy-Owen, who were previously all colleagues at the Ipswich office of Gerrard, now part of banking group Barclays, are now able to promote their new company to the investor community.

The J M Finn office in Ipswich first opened in February last year when five managers and support staff established a presence in the town.

In June the four senior managers came on board to join other former colleagues from Gerrard - who included Dorothy Lock, Andrew Mann and Sharon Rayment - but were subject to a clause in their previous employment contract that prevented them from speaking to clients and promoting their new firm.

Mr Overy-Owen said: “I feel as though a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I fully accept that it is necessary to observe the terms of an employment contract, but it is most frustrating when you are unable to talk to people with whom you have dealt for many years and who are anxious to take your advice.”

The opening of J M Finn's Ipswich office, located at Knapton Court in Turret Lane, just off Lower Brook Street, came just six months after the firm opened its first Suffolk office, in Abbeygate Street, Bury St Edmunds.

Initially, responsibility for promoting the Ipswich office fell on the shoulders of well-known local financial commentator Brian Tora, a long-time Suffolk resident who is a regular writer and broadcaster on financial and investment matters, including a regular column in the EADT.

He continues to support the J M Finn offices in Suffolk as a consultant and has helped set up a local sponsorship deal with the Higham Point-to-Point racecourse.

Steven Sussman, managing director of J M Finn, which is based on London and also has offices in Bristol and Leeds, said: “We had planned a presence in Suffolk some years ago and were delighted when experienced stockbrokers and investment managers in both Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich chose to join us. The calibre and experience of the managers in these offices are second to none.”

He added: “By concentrating on providing clients with a truly personal service at a senior level, J M Finn & Co has grown its business very significantly in recent years and remains an independent asset management business specializing in looking after the investments of private clients, their pension funds and charities.

“The offices in Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds will be able to draw upon the considerable expertise that exists around the firm.”

J M Finn, which was founded as a partnership in 1946 and incorporated as a private limited company in 2006, manages more than of £4 billion of investments for a wide variety of clients. Last Year, it was also granted status as a Nominated Adviser to companies listed, or seeking to list, on the Alternative Investment Market.