Bestinvest has announced a restructuring of its investment management division.

Money Marketing understands that the restructure follows a number of senior departures from the investment management arm of the firm in the last two weeks.

In a statement released this afternoon Bestinvest chairman Ray Greenshields says: "The loss of long-serving members of the Bestinvest team is always a sad occasion and we thank those who are leaving for all their hard work in helping to build our proposition. Wealth Management remains at the heart of our business and we will continue to develop our offering and introduce fresh ideas that will add value to our clients and we are well on course to do that.”

The firm refused to reveal the number of discretionary investment management division staff that have recently left but it is believed to have been a significant proportion.

The discretionary investment division is understood to have accounted for nearly a third of the group's revenue in 2007.

The news comes only a week after the loss of chief executive Andrew Barnes, who left earlier this month having said to Money Marketing earlier this year that he intended to be with the firm in the long-run.

Bestinvest was also unavailable for comment on what direction the restructure will take.