According to Sturgeon Ventures, which became the first regulatory ‘incubator’ or ‘umbrella’ firm in the City of London’s institutional financial sector 18 years ago, business has seen massive growth since the credit crunch of 2008.

Spokesman Stephen Sheppard told Compliance Matters: "These incubators are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. They're regulatory experts. Suppose that you are a fund manager who has left a bank to set up your own fund, but you have no compliance resources. You could employ a compliance officer, in which case it takes about six months to get FCA permission. Or you could go to the likes of Sturgeon Ventures. As a third party, they can authorise you by virtue of the fact that you become one of their appointed representatives or ARs. They're basically a third-party compliance-giver, a bit like a network for independent financial advisors. Of course, before you join, they do due diligence on you. Seonaid Mackenzie, the head of Sturgeon, did shop someone to the old Financial Services Authority once but they did nothing for two years, by which time he'd defrauded his clients.

"Since 2008, a lot of people have been spinning out from banks and fund firms in the City. Perhaps that's because they don't get bonuses any more, or because they have a good idea and want to go into business on their own. In any case, they often come to the incubators. Seonaid trademarked 'regulatory incubator' as a phrase years ago, but she doesn't mind other people using it."

Sturgeon celebrated its 'coming of age' last night with a charity gala at the Caledonian Club in London, taking the occasion to announce that it has opened an office in Hong Kong, where it will be a regulated investment manager and asset gatherer known as Sturgeon Hong Kong. It believes there to be substantial market potential in Hong Kong because of an increase in the number of start-up managers in Asia, the need the British fund managers have for more access to family offices and funds of funds in that jurisdiction and an upsurge in the number of managers who, for many reasons, split their time between the territory and London.