Alan McFarlane has a net worth of £34 million as of April 2012, according to the Sunday Times UK Rich List. McFarlane joined Edinburgh-based Walter Scott Partners and as chief executive had a 20% stake worth £43m at the 2006 takeover of the business by Mellon, the US bank. He gave £1m to the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies at Edinburgh University. He left Walter Scott at the end of 2009.