.png)
Financial Services News
Partners at LGT Wealth Management cashed in on £24.7m, as pre-tax profits near doubled to £42.2m in 2021 on the back of increasing inflows. In the firm’s annual results to the end of December 2021, the money that 63 Partners took home rose from £23.1m in 2020.
Hampden & Co saw its income for the first half of the year reach nearly £9m on the back of growth in loans and deposits, putting it on course for its first full-year profit. Total income at the Edinburgh private bank increased a record 47% year on year to £8.8m, as deposits rose 21% to £731m.
The FCA has fined Citigroup Global Markets £12.6m for failing to put proper trade surveillance in place. The regulator said the banking giant did not effectively monitor its trading activities to prevent insider dealing and market manipulation. Citi is being fined under the market abuse regulation introduced in 2016.
UK inflation hit 10.1% in the year to July, according to the Office for National Statistics. The consumer price inflation (CPI) figure is up from an annual rate of 9.4% in June. The last time CPI was in double digits was in February 1982, when it reached 10.2%.
Brown Shipley compensated clients with £5.3m last year to redress misleading Pension scheme advice. According to its 2021 annual report, an independent specialist firm reviewed the UK Wealth Manager’s advice following a request from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in late 2019.
Quilter spent £17m on restructuring in the first six months of the year, including £12m on simplifying its services. The costs, excluded from the group’s adjusted profit before tax of £61m – up 9% from £56m from the first half of 2021 – came as the group divided its clients into two segments, affluent and high net worth.
LGT Wealth Management has formed a new intermediary services team, following rapid growth in its model portfolio proposition. The London firm merged its MPS and Sustainable MPS investment teams into a single unit handing all advised business, beneath sustainable boss Phoebe Stone.
Abrdn could be dropped from the FTSE 100 next week, with its share price tanking close to 40% this year. The Asset Manager’s market cap has fallen to just below £3.3bn, leaving it languishing near the bottom of the blue-chip index.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Private equity firm Preservation Capital Partners (PCP) has purchased a majority stake in Saltus Group for an undisclosed sum. PCP will hold its stake alongside Saltus’s management and existing high-net-worth individuals shareholder base. PCP Managing Director Andrea Secci and Managing Partner Jatender Aujla will join the Wealth Manager’s board.
M&G is to buy Plymouth Adviser IFA Continuum Financial Services for an undisclosed sum. Following regulatory approval, M&G will take a 49.9% stake this year and purchase the rest of the firm over the next two years. Continuum has assets under advice of £1.5bn across 12,000 clients, and 60 IFAs operating nationally on its books.
Kingswood has added a sixth acquisition to its war chest this year with the purchase of Alton-based IFA Smith Pearman & Associates for an undisclosed sum. Smith Pearman currently has £70m in Assets Under Management (AUM) across 240 clients. It focuses on high-net-worth clients with more than £100,000 of investable assets. On completion of the deal, Kingswood’s AUM will stand at £9.1bn.
Investec Wealth & Investment has purchased Edinburgh-based Murray Asset Management for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition of the Wealth Manager will see the transfer of its team of 20 staff to Investec Wealth & Investment.
Evelyn Partners paid nearly £12m to acquire three adviser businesses last year, its latest set of accounts reveals. The accounts for the 12 months to the end of December 2021 show the group paid £7.5m to purchase Guildford-based financial planning firm HFS Milbourne, with £200,000 payable at a later date. During the year, the group also paid £3m to purchase Northumberland-based Explore Wealth Management and £1.2m for Essex-based Adviser FP Solutions.
Consolidator Independent Wealth Planners (IWP) has acquired Cambridgeshire-based Holistic Financial Leadership (HFL). HFL was founded in 2014 by Brenda Santimano and Patricia Hope and has amassed £252.5m in Assets Under Management.
Buckinghamshire-based 2hWealthcare has handed its business over to Evelyn Partners as part of its succession programme. 2hWealthcare Managing Partner and Founder Steve Wilson joins the firm alongside Chartered Financial Planner David Allan, Client Relationship Manager Chris Berry and Client Services Manager Karen Wilson.
Insurer Aviva has completed its £385m acquisition of national advice firm Succession Wealth. The deal was announced on 2 March. Succession, which has around 200 advisers and £9.5bn of assets, will retain its brand and status as a ‘separately regulated, independent’ business. CEO James Stevenson will continue to lead the firm.
.png)
Movers & Shakers
Hargreaves Lansdown has hired M&G Wealth Advice Deputy Managing Director Richard Caldicott as Advice Director. Caldicott has held the roles of Deputy Managing Director and Customer and Distribution Officer for M&G Wealth Advice arm since 2019. Prior to that, he was Chief of Staff of Wealth Solutions at M&G.
Evelyn Partners has recruited veteran Financial Planner Hayley Jarvis to its regional outlet in Chelmsford. She joins from advice firm Forrester-Hyde. During her career of more than 25 years, Jarvis has worked for EQ Investors, Foster Denovo and Aegon.
Canada Life Asset Management has made a series of senior promotions across its business. Rebekah Riddell has been promoted to a new role as Head of Trading, while James Stoddard will be replacing Ian Goulsbra as Head of Distribution. In addition, Sanjay Patel has been appointed Director of Global Private Debt.
Artorius Wealth has bolstered its client team by raiding UBS for three new hires. James Goddard, Helena Pratt and Max Di Lieto have left their roles as Client Advisors at UBS to join the wealth firm. At Artorius, Goddard and Pratt will work as Client Partners, while Di Lieto will support them as a Client Manager.
Rathbones has made two sales hires with a focus on the West of England region. Jemima Gregson will take on the role of Investment Sales Consultant. Gregson joins the investment firm from Jupiter Asset Management where she worked for over two years as a Sales Support Executive. Matt Honour also joins Rathbones as a DFM Specialist with a specific focus on the West of England. Honour spent five months working as a Business Development Manager at Timeline, developing client support technology for financial planning and investment strategies.
Veteran Arbuthnot Executive Sir Henry Angest is to step down from his role as Chair of Arbuthnot Latham, handing over to Independent Non-Executive Sir Nigel Boardman. Angest will remain on the board of Arbuthnot Latham and will continue to serve as Chair and Chief Executive of the parent group. He is additionally Life President of the Wealth Manager.
Daniel Porteous has left Brown Shipley’s Manchester office after a four-year stint to join Weatherbys Private Bank. Porteous was most recently a Client Senior Manager at Brown Shipley. Before that, he spent nearly a year at Handelsbanken and five years at Coutts. Weatherbys has handed him a Private Banker role, where he will be tasked with growing the firm’s presence in the Northwest.
Platform Novia has appointed Eden Scrivenger as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Scrivenger will join the business in September from Investec, where she held the same position for two years, and replaces Chris Bowles, who stepped down as CTO in February.
Hawksmoor Investment Management has appointed Richard Pike, a former Brewin Dolphin Divisional Director, as Interim Head of Investment Management. Pike is replacing Head of Research and Private Clients Chief Investment Officer Jim Wood-Smith, who has stepped down from front-line management. Pike joins Hawksmoor with almost two decades of experience in specialist charity investment management. He began his career in the 1990s as a Stockbroker for Greig Middleton, which later rebranded to Gerrard.
National advice firm Ascot Lloyd has appointed Duncan Gregory as Head of its Adviser Academy, due to launch early next year. Gregory joins from St James’s Place, where he was Head of its Academy in the Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool areas from 2017 to March 2022.
Credit Suisse has announced its second major boardroom overhaul of the year, with former Bank of Ireland boss Francesca McDonagh now set to join the group as its Chief Operating Officer in September after originally being hired as Chief Executive for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Emea). Wealth boss Francesco De Ferrari, who had been acting CEO of the Emea region, will take on the role permanently while retaining his wealth remit.
Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management (CGWM) has appointed a new Head of Wealth Management to its Jersey office. Ryan Harrison assumes the role from CGWM International Chief Executive Andy Finch. Harrison has spent more than 15 years at CGWM in Jersey, including 14 years as an Investment Director.
Kingswood has recruited former Quilter and SJP Financial Planners Max Sullivan and Jade Rose to its Kent and London offices. Sullivan joins the firm from Generational Wealth Management, where he worked for two years, moving up from Independent Financial Adviser to Chief Operating Officer. Rose has eight years of experience in financial services, joining Kingswood from US professional networking platform Fishbowl, where she worked as a Community Lead.
London-based discretionary Fund Manager Copia Capital Management has bolstered its investment team with two high-profile recruits. Richard Warne has joined the firm from You Asset Management. Peter Wasko previously worked for Standard Life Aberdeen. Together they bring more than 40 years of investment experience.
Head of Liquid Markets and multi-asset veteran Joe Wiggins has left St James’s Place (SJP), after just over a year at the firm. Wiggins thanked Chief Investment Officer Tom Beal for their time spent working together. Although there was no mention of his plans after his departure, he said he ‘will be reappearing in a month or so’.
C Hoare & Co has appointed veteran tech entrepreneur Giles Andrews to its board as a Non-Executive Director. Andrews co-founded peer-to-peer lender Zopa in 2005. He served as its Chief Executive from 2007 to 2015 and was chaired for four years thereafter. He retains an active role on the board. He also sits on the board of Bank of Ireland and chairs online retailer Carwow.
Weatherbys Private Bank has hired former Investec Click & Invest boss Jane Millar as a Non-Executive Director. Millar, spent 26 years at Investec Wealth & Investment, rising to become Chief Executive of its robo-advice service. The unit was scrapped in May 2019, just two years after launch.
Portfolio Manager and Quantitative Investment Specialist David Yuen will leave Franklin Templeton in December. Yuen will step down as Manager from the Franklin US Low Duration and Strategic Income funds as of 1 October. While Yuen will relinquish portfolio management responsibilities, he will stay with the company in an advisory capacity until 7 December.
Stonehage Fleming has appointed the former Chief Executive of Barclays’ Savings, Investments and Wealth Management division, Dena Brumpton, to its board. She has been appointed to the board alongside Michael Solomon, who joined the company via its acquisition of Maitland’s Private Client division in April.
Edinburgh-based Hampden & Co has hired Adam & Co veteran Gill Sanders as Director of Banking. Gill Sanders spent more than two decades at Adam & Co, rising to become an Associate Director of Private Banking.
.png)
All information provided in this Market Digest has been gathered from multiple Financial Services Media sources and individual company press releases.
