The new venture headed by Ian Hannam, who left JP Morgan last year to fight a ruling that he had engaged in market abuse and a £450,000 fine, has grown to 30 staff, among them the former chief executive of Canaccord Genuity. The former mining dealmaker is looking to build “the next bastion of British merchant banking”.

Strand Partners, which Hannam acquired last year, has added three staff in the past three weeks, the most high profile of whom is Tim Hoare, the former chief executive of Canaccord Genuity.