This, it turns out, is part of a wider interest in property renovation, but her response makes a change from ‘socialising with friends’ or ‘going to the cinema’. Then again, there’s a lot about Barrett that makes her stand out.

The founder and chief executive of Unbiased, the UK’s leading platform connecting people to financial advisers, oversees a business that works with more than 27,000 advisers and manages over £80bn in assets.

In the 15 years since its launch, it’s estimated that Unbiased has helped 10 million people access the right IFA, while also facilitating other crucial services such as mortgage brokerage and accountancy.

I had noticed that advisers were brilliant but often struggled to get their brand in front of the right customers

Pretty impressive for someone who started out with a team of just five and scant knowledge of how to run a business.

As she admits, “Google was definitely my friend in the early days, but you’ve just got to have a go.”

Getting started

As a child, Barrett was “quite good at a number of things”, but she never had a clear idea of what she wanted to pursue as a career.

Graduating from Newcastle University with a degree in economics and marketing, a natural flair for communication and creativity led to a job with Mortgage Express, then part of Lloyds TSB.

“I loved working there,” she claims. “They pioneered products such as buy-to-let, self-cert and buy-and-build mortgages.

“I set up their first internet connection in 1999, which was also my introduction to the internet. At that stage, it was all dial-up, waiting for ages to connect, but I realised you could put brochures, content and information online for people to consume — all quite revolutionary.”

I’d like to see targeted advice become more accessible, especially for those who aren’t served by the market

A move to Abbey National (now Santander) followed, and then onto IFA Promotion, where Barrett stayed for a decade, working her way up to become marketing director. It was this experience, she says, that gave her “a real understanding of the financial advice sector, and the consumer and professional pain points”.

Her experience in different-sized companies also convinced Barrett that she preferred smaller teams and a more autonomous environment.

“Now I run my own business, it’s interesting to see that the seeds were always there. When I was at Mortgage Express, there were only about 150 people and you were allowed to just go ahead and do things. I enjoyed the autonomy.”

A personal journey

However, it wasn’t just a desire for independence that spurred Barrett to set up Unbiased in 2009.

That same year, her second child was born with a heart condition, which led to the family spending several months in hospital.

It’s about generating value for employees and customers, and delivering on your promises

“It was only then I realised that I hadn’t made any financial plans for such an eventuality,” remembers Barrett.

“Despite advising others, I hadn’t taken my own planning to heart. And it made me realise that I needed an adviser who wasn’t just someone my parents had used.

“My son is fine now, but that experience gave me the push to go all in with Unbiased. Once you face something so personal, you think, ‘Why not? I’ll find another job if it doesn’t work out.’ It gave me the confidence to pursue it fully.”

Fulfilling a need

Barrett realised that, for both clients and advisers, there was a gap in the market that her new company could fill.

“Throughout my career, I had noticed that advisers were brilliant but often struggled to get their brand in front of the right customers. And, on the consumer side, people often didn’t realise they needed advice or assumed it wasn’t for them.

As we’ve grown and hired more senior people, having a laser focus on metrics has become crucial

“I recall a research group with these ladies aged 60–70. None of them had taken pension advice, despite having had good careers. They’d taken advice from people like their son’s friend, who was a bank manager, but not from a qualified adviser.

“That experience made it clear there was a place for Unbiased — connecting clients looking for the right adviser with advisers seeking a good, consistent flow of quality enquiries to help plan their business.”

Barrett’s previous roles had also taught her the importance of technology, when building Unbiased. From the start, the firm embraced data-led processes to make the adviser and client experience as efficient as possible.

“That’s where the Unbiased algorithm was born — learning from a few pieces of data to match people with the right adviser.

“Our platform has evolved from there to offer a full conversion tool that tracks client interactions, nudges customers and integrates with CRM systems, providing data insights about successful enquiries.”

We’re a marketplace business, so we have to keep the clients happy while also satisfying our paying customers: the advisers

Crucially, it’s the volume of traffic that has enabled the business to become more precise, creating different journeys for different advice needs. This, in turn, has driven growth — over the past few years, Unbiased has delivered around £20bn in assets under management to its adviser customers, 75% of which is new to the industry.

Learning on the job

For all her success, however, Barrett’s journey hasn’t been an easy one. She emphasises that “resilience is key” when starting and running a business.

“You have to dig deep and keep going. It’s not easy, especially when you’re trying to achieve a lot with limited resources.

“Our business now has about 90–95 people, with specialists in all sorts of fields, from PPC [pay-per-click] to SEO [search engine optimisation]. But, when you’re starting out, you face constant challenges with money, time and people.

I knew I wanted a good business with a strong brand, happy customers and a healthy environment

“Also, you don’t know what you don’t know, so you make decisions based on the data you have at the time, and later you look back and wonder, ‘What was I thinking?’

“You’ll always make mistakes, but hopefully you won’t make the same one twice.”

Although Barrett found herself, at the start, “looking up even the most basic things”, she took inspiration from those around her.

“Networks are really important,” she says. “In general, I’ve found the financial services industry to be a fantastic network of people who are happy to share their knowledge. You learn as you go.

“For example, I remember going on holiday and reading a book called Scaling Up by Verne Harnish. It feels overly structured and staid now, but it inspired me to think about how I could make what we had bigger and bring it to more people.”

I recall a research group with these ladies aged 60–70. None of them had taken pension advice, despite having had good careers

Unbiased raised funds in late 2019 and again in 2022 as the business grew and expanded to the US. This enabled Barrett to hire an experienced chief operating officer, and she describes having someone to bounce ideas off as “invaluable”.

“Initially, I was working alone, which suited me because I’m independent anyway — I don’t need to be constantly checking in with anyone. But it was a real benefit to find people who were happy to pay it forward and to give you a bit of time.”

Important lessons

Even with more support around her and a thriving company, Barrett faces challenges every day, some of which are inherent to Unbiased’s model.

“We’re a marketplace business, so we have to keep the clients happy while also satisfying our paying customers: the advisers,” she points out.

“There’s always a tension between the two. We spend a lot of our marketing budget targeting clients, but our revenue comes from another party entirely.

On the consumer side, people often didn’t realise they needed advice or assumed it wasn’t for them

“It’s all about finding the right balance.”

When I ask her to identify the most important factors in running a business, she highlights three things: people, numbers and usability.

“People first of all, because you can’t do it without people, and you certainly can’t do it alone. I have a team of seven with whom I work closely daily, and we have regular meetings to check in on our KPIs [key performance indicators] and plan ahead.

“One of the things I’m proudest of is that our employees genuinely love working with each other. We’ve got a chief people officer and, if you look on Glassdoor, you’ll see we’re quite transparent. It’s about being one team with one dream.

“Second, the numbers. As we’ve grown and hired more senior people, having a laser focus on metrics has become crucial — whether it’s revenue or growth or Ebitda or whatever. You need to identify those North Star numbers and be on them all the time. And, if you’re wavering off them, how are you getting back on?

When I was at Mortgage Express, there were only about 150 people and you were allowed to just go ahead and do things. I enjoyed the autonomy

“Last, there’s usability and the health of the overall business. Before we secured investment, I didn’t always know exactly what I was aiming for, but I knew I wanted a good business with a strong brand, happy customers and a healthy environment. So, we keep an eye on competitors, but mainly in terms of how close they’re getting to what we’re doing.

“It’s about generating value for employees and customers, and delivering on your promises.”

Forging forward

On the adviser side, Unbiased is working with larger advice businesses and has partnered with brands such as Canaccord, M&G and PensionBee, to help advisers adapt to the increasing demands for efficiency and growth.

“We’ve seen a lot of private-equity investment and consolidation in the market,” says Barrett. “That’s definitely focused advisers’ minds on getting consistent streams of new business so they can grow at a regular rate.

Google was definitely my friend in the early days, but you’ve just got to have a go

“This has led them to our platform, where they can plan what type of customer they want to onboard and with what regularity, then support their efficiencies and pro-growth targets. That’s really driving business for us.”

For Barrett, making this process ever more granular is the key goal. The platform, she says, is “very much a vertically integrated funnel, and those integrations are getting stronger all the time”.

She adds: “The vision would be to have one view of a customer, their likelihood to convert, and an understanding of the length and level of investment.

“So, looking at the data, what will we have delivered to them in five or 10 years?”

It’s clear that the success of Unbiased owes a lot to this attention to detail. But what about the 92% of people who don’t receive any financial advice at present?

“There’s clearly room for growth,” agrees Barrett.

“I’d like to see targeted advice become more accessible, especially for those who aren’t served by the market.”

When I tell her that becoming a parent last year made me think more profoundly about my financial future, she seizes on this.

Despite advising others, I hadn’t taken my own financial planning to heart

“We see people like you a lot — those who suddenly become more responsible when they become parents. They need life assurance, a bigger mortgage or savings.

“We love creating journeys for them on our website, guiding them through typical life events.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about connectivity.”

On that reassuring note, we shake hands and I head back out to the London streets.

If our conversation is anything to go by, “knocking down walls” is more than just a hobby for Barrett.

This article featured in the November 2024 edition of Money Marketing. 

If you would like to subscribe to the monthly magazine, please click here.

The post MM Meets… Unbiased founder and chief executive Karen Barrett: ‘You have to dig deep and keep going’ appeared first on Money Marketing.

When I arrive at the firm’s office in the heart of Manchester, Eckersley jokes that he’s “managed to spend 22 years avoiding any personal articles in the press”.

No pressure, then.

“I’m not naturally someone who likes to be at the forefront of things,” he admits.

I’m most proud of getting people into these specialist roles

Rather than enjoy the limelight, he prefers to take a back seat and put trust in the team he’s built around him over the past two decades.

The sustainable investment firm’s headcount has gone from two employees in 2002 to more than 50 today, so Eckersley’s method is clearly working.

“I remember one of my previous MDs saying to me, ‘You must never be afraid of employing people who are better than you or brighter than you,’” he says.

“A lot of people don’t do that because they feel threatened by them, but I really don’t feel threatened by that at all.”

In fact, Eckersley says his ultimate ambition is for someone new to come in and ask, ‘What does that old bloke in the corner do?’

“That would be a real victory, wouldn’t it? If nobody thinks I really do anything — that would be brilliant.”

From the outset, Eckersley didn’t want Castlefield to be all about him.

I’m not naturally someone who likes to be at the forefront of things

“I was offered 100% of the business, but it just didn’t feel right,” he tells me.

Instead, he opted for a 46% stake, while the rest of the company was owned by another colleague and a charitable foundation. The latter is still a shareholder to this day.

Eckersley now owns just 15% and, in his role as chair, is responsible for “making sure people are in the right position and doing the jobs they should be doing”.

This, he says, has been both his biggest challenge and his greatest achievement.

A challenge because Castlefield is what Eckersley describes as a “values-based business”.

He expands: “When I look back and think of what I’m most proud of, I think it’s getting people into these specialist roles.

I would like to think there are no barriers to people joining us — or, once they have joined us, to progress

“We have a pretty strong set of values as a business: long-term sustainable growth, independence and innovation, employee share ownership, and respect and responsibility.

“These are the four key values we use to recruit people.”

Employee ownership

Finding the right people is essential because Castlefield’s employees are not just the beating heart of the company — they also own a big chunk of it.

Every one of them, upon successful completion of their six-month probation, has the option to become a co-owner of the business.

Castlefield gives employees, through a tax-incentivised share plan, the opportunity to purchase shares in the company through the payroll. For every share they buy, the business gives them a free one in return.

AI will help reduce the cost, for people like us, of onboarding clients, and allow us to serve more people

Eckersley acknowledges that this style of employee ownership “is not always the easiest thing and obviously not for everybody”.

However, he says he often jokes that it is the key to world peace “because you are a group of people and, irrespective of what you believe in or where you come from, you are focusing on an aim that is of mutual benefit to everyone”.

He adds: “It’s an interesting dynamic, but it’s not without its challenges.

“You can be leading the business or, if you are a senior manager, leading a team, but the people you are managing also own your business.

“Sometimes you have to get people used to the idea that they have two roles: one as an employee employed to do things, and another as a shareholder.

“Sometimes they need a bit of direction on how to do that. The benefit, though, is that they are always involved in the key decisions that shape the future.”

Another advantage of signing up to the scheme is an annual employee ownership bonus, where everyone receives the same amount of money irrespective of where they sit in the business.

The FCA said we had a robust set of procedures in place

“We always ask whether people want it to be based on a percentage of their salary, and they always say no,” says Eckersley. “Which is quite nice — and a fairer way of doing it.”

Eckersley says he is also proud of how Castlefield has become a more diverse and inclusive employer over the years.

“I would like to think there are no barriers to people joining us — or, once they have joined us, to progress,” he says.

“I have learned that having different views around the table is a very valuable thing.

“I think a lot of strife in the world comes from people being disadvantaged and understandably upset about what they haven’t got compared to others.”

It took me until my mid-thirties to realise I wasn’t suited to working for anyone else

Castlefield has aimed to address this by speaking to schools in disadvantaged areas, telling them about the company and saying, ‘We are here and we would welcome you.’

“A lot of these people don’t necessarily think they’d be able to work in financial services, so it’s really important to give them the confidence to know that they can.”

Flying start

Prior to making the short trip across the M62 to Manchester, Eckersley started out in nearby Liverpool.

He graduated with a degree in accounting and finance, with an MBA specific to the financial services sector.

I think a lot of strife in the world comes from people being disadvantaged and understandably upset about what they haven’t got compared to others

In late 2012, he became one of the UK’s first chartered wealth managers, subsequently becoming one of the youngest-ever directors of Henry Cooke Group at the age of 27.

Eckersley joined the holding company of that business in his early thirties and later became the group’s managing director of fund management.

When the business was sold to Brown Shipley, he became the bank’s executive director and, later, chief investment officer.

“It was great,” says Eckersley. “I got paid well and travelled all over Europe.

“But it got to the point where I thought, ‘If I don’t leave now, I’m going to be here for my whole career.’

“It took me until my mid-thirties to fundamentally realise I wasn’t suited to working for anyone else, because I do like to be in control of my destiny.”

Eckersley says he had “done quite well” in his career to that point and was fortunate enough to be in a financial position to “take a gamble”. And that gamble has certainly paid off.

After he had left Brown Shipley on good terms, the firm was “gracious enough”, he says, to grant him permission to speak to a small number of clients.

A lot of [youngsters in disadvantaged areas] don’t necessarily think they’d be able to work in financial services

“Enough of them said yes to me and suddenly we had a business.

“We applied to the Financial Conduct Authority to start a new firm, managed to get that through in six months, and the rest, as they say, is history.

“It’s been quite a journey.”

Little touches

Through our conversation, it becomes clear that attention to detail is important to Eckersley — both in work and outside.

This is evident in the little touches adorning his office — from the portrait by a Danish photographer behind me to the Hornsea Pottery from which I’m poured a cup of tea.

He’s a lover of contemporary art and classical music, and is a keen collector of both.

“I’m a fan of the usual,” he says. “Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert.

“However, throughout my working life I have got involved with a number of musical charities, so I have been listening to a lot more contemporary music too.”

One of the charities he is involved with as a trustee is the endowment trust of the world-renowned Hallé Orchestra.

I have learned that having different views around the table is a very valuable thing

“I quite like having to understand the music rather than just listening to it. I play the same music a lot until I really understand it,” says Eckersley.

“I’m a particularly big fan of Hi-Fi — the idea that the music should sound like the band are in the room and not just a recording.”

Challenges ahead

Eckersley has seen a lot of change in the sector over the past 22 years at Castlefield — and, with regulation accelerating at pace, he expects to see much more in the years ahead.

One piece of regulation that will impact Castlefield is the FCA’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements. The company was one of 12 firms the regulator selected for a deep dive when finalising the rules earlier this year.

“They basically said, ‘Send us everything you do,’” says Eckersley. “They wanted to make sure you’re not saying you do it if you don’t.

“We also had a three-hour interview with them where they asked us all sorts of questions.

I was offered 100% of the business, but it just didn’t feel right

“They came back and said we had a robust set of procedures in place, which was obviously very pleasing to hear and validation that we are doing what we should be.”

Another big challenge ahead, he says, is “providing advice to people who need it who don’t have the half a million pounds that goes with the fee that makes it affordable to provide it”.

The people with the least money, Eckersley argues, are often the ones who need the most complex financial advice.

Technology, in his opinion, “has got to be the answer” when it comes to closing this advice gap in the long term.

“Artificial intelligence will help reduce the cost, for people like us, of onboarding clients, and allow us to serve more people. That’s key to addressing this issue.”

Eckersley says keeping clients’ values aligned with those of Castlefield is important, but also a difficult thing to do at times.

One example he gives is from the start of the Russia/Ukraine war, when the price of oil and arms shares went “really high”.

One of my previous MDs said, ‘You must never be afraid of employing people who are better than you or brighter than you’

He says: “Some people were saying, ‘I made a mistake not investing in these,’ when the price shot up.

“But, if you really are driven by values and sustainability, you wouldn’t really be thinking you’d made a mistake, would you?”

Eckersley clearly still has a passion for what he does and a fire in his belly to keep bringing in the people who truly align with the firm’s core values.

Beyond life at Castlefield, he’s also a chartered fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.

For the time being, at least, the “old bloke in the corner” is going nowhere.

This article featured in the October 2024 edition of Money Marketing. 

If you would like to subscribe to the monthly magazine, please click here.

The post MM Meets… Castlefield founder and chair John Eckersley: ‘We have a strong set of values as a business’ appeared first on Money Marketing.

The Parmenion boss had humble beginnings, in a large family with seven brothers. He says being raised in an all-boys household had unique challenges.

“There was a lot of fighting for airtime,” jokes Jennings.

He learned early the art of competing; a skillset that has served him well in both sporting and professional careers.

“There’s a competitive side to me,” he says. “But I’m a big advocate of winning in the right way. I bring that into business life.”

This is probably the most exciting time in the
platform industry since the early 2000s

Jennings is not only competitive; he’s a proven winner with an enviable record of senior positions in the financial services platform market. Roles include managing director of Axa Elevate and CEO of FNZ UK and Europe.

He is a leading figure in the platform and technology industry, with more than two decades of experience — building or supplying investment platform services across the globe.

However, reminiscing about his school days in Bristol, Jennings recalls he didn’t regard himself as an A-student.

“I was more interested in sports day than in exams day,” he says.

Despite this, Jennings ended up going to university to study mathematics. Following his graduation, however, there was no career plan.

“I never really had much of a life plan at that point,” he observes.

Revelation

But then came an epiphany in his early 20s.

“I realised that being a lazy git doesn’t get you anywhere,” he says.

“I started to work hard and I saw the rewards.”

Jennings’ first foray into the world of work was as a self-employed decorator.

There seems to be an awful lot of change; people questioning and challenging quite a lot of industry dynamic

“I started a small painting-and-decorating business in Bristol with my friend. It was doing quite well,” he says, nostalgically. “Everything was cash back then.

“We’re talking of the early 90s. It was kind of good.”

The young Jennings enjoyed both the cashflow and the ability to fend for himself. But it dawned on him he needed “a proper job”.

He joined a small marketing consultancy in Haywards Heath, near Brighton, where he was able to put his maths degree to good use.

“I was building sort of predictive models. All the stuff people think is clever now, people were doing back in the early 90s.

“We were looking at retention rates and building strategic plans off the back of that. I did it for a few years and it was a great grounding.”

Jennings subsequently joined motoring association The AA in Basingstoke, Hampshire, as an analyst. He was passionate about his work and expressed many opinions about The AA’s direction of travel.

We have eight scrum teams just constantly making small, incremental enhancements to the platform

“I just kept pointing out things that we should do,” he says.

The firm’s senior managers took notice and tasked him with implementing his ideas.

“I sort of fell into management. There was no real desire to do it,” he adds.

Having boxed himself into a corner, he had to ‘walk the talk’.

“I started aggregating teams. We were building marketing plans.”

In 2001, Jennings returned to Bristol after being headhunted by Axa Life. This was his first venture into the financial services sector and he was tasked with helping the insurer to better understand its customer base.

Leadership potential

During our chat, it becomes clear Jennings was more of a leader than a follower.

In the early 2000s, the CEO of Axa Life at the time, Paul Evans, introduced him to platforms.

We’ve now moved into more of the post-retirement world, making sure that’s as simple and effective as possible

“He said to me: ‘Look, the world’s changing away from life products. People are building these new investment platforms. We want you to join a project with two other guys to build a strategy and a business case for it.’

“One of those guys, Nick Turner, has gone on to be the CEO of NFU Mutual. Unfortunately, the other guy, Mark Davis, passed away a couple of years ago.

“We put a strategy together and that was how Axa Elevate was spawned. We went through the whole process of: do we build ourselves, do we buy, do we partner with somebody? We ended up partnering with [platform giant] FNZ. We launched the platform out into the market, I think quite successfully.”

Jennings was appointed platform managing director of Axa Elevate following the restructure and sale of the Axa Life business to consolidator Resolution (now Friends Life).

After several years at Axa Elevate, Jennings wanted a new challenge. It came during an encounter with Adrian Durham, the CEO of FNZ.

Durham asked if Jennings was interested in moving to Sydney, Australia, to take up the role of chief operating officer at FNZ.

Post-Consumer Duty, there’s been a big push from our advisers to do tiered charging. That makes perfect sense and we’re building it

His remit would be to deliver product development and implementation, service delivery and infrastructure management in Australia and New Zealand. Jennings accepted the role and successfully delivered the project for FNZ, returning to the UK two years later to run the firm’s UK and Europe division.

“I did that for a couple of years and then it was really time for a change,” he says, adding: “I think FNZ is a great place. It’s high paced and you learn a lot. I probably learned more in five years there than I did in the previous 20 years.

“It was a great place to experience what running a business was like, rather than being a senior manager in a big business.”

Moving on again

But Jennings was keen for pastures new again and in 2016 he became CEO of platform provider Parmenion, which was part of Standard Life Aberdeen.

“It was a big culture shock,” he says. “I went from running FNZ Europe, with hundreds of billions of pounds and hundreds of people, to a business that was 45 people and probably in the region of £1.7bn in assets under management.”

However, he was convinced Parmenion had an opportunity to scale given its proprietary tech business and customer base. Martin Gilbert was at the helm of Aberdeen and their views were aligned on taking Parmenion to greater heights. In 2021, Jennings led the sale of Parmenion from Standard Life Aberdeen to private-equity (PE) firm Preservation Capital in a deal worth £102m.

In the eight years since Jennings joined Parmenion, the firm’s assets have risen to just over £12bn across the group. He attributes this success to providing the best products and services to Parmenion’s adviser client base.

In the past two or three years, we’ve seen a real boom. Let’s call it platforms, but it covers adviser productivity, efficiency and effectiveness

“We own all the components in our business. We get to build things our clients want,” he says.

“We have a very close engagement with our clients. We’ve got a Customer Advisory Board where we roll ideas through them. We do a lot of code collaboration with our clients and we’re not in this feature function war with the market where everyone’s trying to have more features and more functions than everyone else.

“We’re just trying to build a great product — be that technology or discretionary fund management — and give exceptional service. If we do that, we’ll probably get more things right than we get wrong.”

Speculation

Parmenion’s success has led to speculation that its PE-backed owner would sell its stake in the business for a hefty profit. The firm has a valuation of around £400m.

But Jennings has put paid to any predictions of an imminent sale.

FNZ is a great place. It’s high paced and you learn a lot. I probably learned more in five years there than I did in the previous 20 years

“We’re just focused on the business. You can get all consumed by investment rounds. They are quite intensive, having sort of led the buyout from Standard Life Aberdeen. They take a lot of time, so I’m happy to have moved away from doing the buyout to now stabilising the business.

“Now I spend 50% of my time on the road, meeting clients. It’s great, right? So, no plans at the moment.”

Jennings has been expanding the platform business. He acquired Midlands-based discretionary fund manager (DFM) Evidence Based Investing (EBI) in 2022.

EBI, which remains an autonomous entity within the Parmenion business, administers £1.9bn across 19 platforms. Jennings says the deal is part of a larger strategy of growing through acquisitions of third-party DFMs.

He outlines Parmenion’s four-part growth strategy: broadening its investment proposition, getting better at retirement and products in retirement, integrating its data and service for the benefit of advisers, and merger and acquisition.

On the first of these, he says Parmenion recently added third-party DFMs to its platform.

I kept pointing out things that we should do. I sort of fell into management. There was no real desire to do it

“We will provide an environment for you to run your centralised investment proposition or your centralised retirement proposition on a platform built to run centralised investment propositions,” says Jennings.

“Parmenion’s history was as one of the DFM businesses that built a platform that did accumulation very well. We did Isas and GIAs [general investment accounts] well, and then launched our own Sipp, but that was in the accumulation space.

“We’ve now moved into more of the post-retirement world, making sure that’s as simple and effective as possible.”

Proprietary technology

Parmenion has bucked the platform trend by relying on its own proprietary technology. Other leading platforms have opted to use third-party tech providers, such as Bravura, FNZ and Seccl.

Jennings says owning its tech allows Parmenion to be “agile and responsive” to customer needs.

We went through the whole process of: do we build ourselves, do we buy, do we partner with somebody?

“We release software every two weeks on a rotating cycle. We do 26 releases a year. We’ve eight scrum teams just constantly making small, incremental enhancements to the platform.”

He adds that this agility enables Parmenion to provide great service to advisers.

The Bristol-based firm recently announced plans to launch a tiered adviser charging service. The feature will allow advisers to tailor charges to different client segments quickly and easily.

“Post-Consumer Duty, there’s been a big push from our advisers to do tiered adviser charging. That makes perfect sense and we’re building it. It’s taken a couple of sprints longer than we’d hoped for, but it’ll be out there September/October time in the market.”

Jennings is a platform veteran and says the sector has made a lot of progress.

There’s a competitive side to me. But I’m a big advocate of winning in the right way. I bring that into business life

“It’s probably the most exciting time in the platform industry since the early 2000s, when we started. There seems to be an awful lot of change; people questioning and challenging quite a lot of industry dynamic,” he says.

“In the past two or three years, we’ve seen a real boom. Let’s call it platforms, but that covers a broad church. It covers adviser productivity, efficiency and effectiveness.

“You might be seeing more technology boom in the adviser space and the adviser tool space: back-office systems finally integrating with platforms and driving efficiency into adviser businesses. And platforms have been responding, whether through new entrants bringing new tech to the market or opening up data sources. You hear a lot about APIs [application programming interfaces], sharing data and ecosystems.

“I’m not sure, fundamentally, much has changed on the custody platform. You want your custody platform just to work. You want your tax wrappers to adhere to the rules. You want trading and dealing to happen. You don’t want anything to go wrong. Custody is about safeguarding and safekeeping.”

However, he observes that connectivity is still an issue for the platform sector.

“There are many players in the market. But there’s not a lot of connectivity between them.”

Now I spend 50% of my time on the road, meeting clients. It’s great

Jennings is a keen sportsman; the former scrum-half has swapped rugby for golf. But he has no plans to retire soon.

“People always ask: what are your long-term plans? I like working. I like trying to make a difference.

“I did team sports. I thought golf would be an individual sport but you’re there with a team. And there’s nothing better than a team.”

Jennings’ immediate plan is to continue the success story at Parmenion.

“I’d love to stay with it and see us grow to £30bn–£40bn in assets.”

This article featured in the September 2024 edition of Money Marketing. 

If you would like to subscribe to the monthly magazine, please click here.

The post MM Meets… Parmenion CEO Martin Jennings: ‘We’re just trying to build a great product’ appeared first on Money Marketing.

When she isn’t busy overseeing her own company — which helps independent financial advisers, financial planners and wealth managers to come up with a succession plan — she’s listening to business audio books while she runs.

In fact, by the time I arrive at Gunner & Co’s offices, located on the waterside of Bristol’s beautiful marina, Jeffreys has already been for a two-hour jog around the city.

I believe that the service we offer, helping to define and execute succession plans, really does help people

“Running is definitely my thing,” she says. “I’ve just signed up to do the six major world marathons before I turn 50 — Berlin, New York, Chicago, Boston, Tokyo and London. I must be mad.”

But it becomes apparent when meeting Jeffreys that she has no problem in stepping outside her comfort zone and tackling a challenge head on. In fact, she thrives on it.

Whether that’s living in a remote part of France at the age of 19 — teaching English — or planning a two-week trip to Dubai and then staying for 10 years, she rarely takes the easy route.

It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that Jeffreys set up Gunner & Co with, she confesses, “limited knowledge of the M&A market” and having previously had no desire to run her own business.

For the first year or so, she adds, there was definitely an element of, “Fake it ’till you make it.”

I have great friends who are mums, and two of them own their business, like me. We are all career led and we help buoy each other up

But nobody can accuse her of winging it anymore. The company has established itself as the go-to place for both sellers and buyers, with Jeffreys and her team playing a central role in overseeing some of the biggest deals in the sector. But the journey to get there was anything but straightforward.

Around the world and back again

Jeffreys’ career story, from marketing executive to business owner, is a remarkable one that has taken her from Bristol literally around the world and back again.

A “third-generation Bristolian”, she was born and bred in the city and went to a local comprehensive school before going on to university, where she studied French. As part of her degree she spent six months teaching in a tech college in the French village of Bayonne, near Biarritz.

The effort of buying and integrating companies is such that, for the most part, consolidators now want to buy bigger businesses

After achieving her degree in 2001, she took a year out and secured a job as a member of the cabin crew for airline Virgin Atlantic. However, less than a month into her training the tragic events of 9/11 took place and the company laid off everyone who had been due to join.

Instead, Jeffreys decided to fly back to France for a ski season before heading over to the US and then Dubai. On the point of travelling to the last of the three countries, “I bought a suit,” she says, “packed it and said to Mum, ‘I have a return flight from Dubai in two weeks, but if I find a job I might stay there.’”

She did end up staying — for 10 years — after securing her “first proper job” as a trainee marketing manager for the Institute for International Research. She was then appointed marketing director for the Middle East division before being headhunted for a job in New York.

After a period of travel through South America, Jeffreys came back to the UK and took a job as chief marketing officer for an events and conferences business in Bristol. However, back in her home city she soon discovered that a lot of her school friends “had lived very different lives from mine”.

A deal is never done until it’s done, and there are always hurdles along the way

Feeling isolated, she started playing softball as a way of making new friends. Little did she know that this would initiate the next chapter of her career.

It was through softball that Jeffreys met the founder and managing partner of a financial publication, who suggested they work together — and Gunner & Co was born.

“The RDR [Retail Distribution Review] was going through at the time,” she says, “and a lot of people [in financial planning] were saying, ‘I don’t want to do my exams, I don’t want to go to Level 4, I just want to sell up. Can you help me?’

“My friend said, ‘I think there’s a real gap in the market here.’ And that’s how it all started, really.”

Accidental business owner

“I would honestly never have sat in a job in an employed role and said, ‘I really want to own my own company one day,’” confesses Jeffreys.

There are lots of steps within the process of selling a business where it can all go wrong

Despite this, she has fallen in love with the advice profession and the people in it.

“One of the things I really like about working with financial planners and IFAs is that they are all just human beings. I love the ability to connect with them.

“I also love business and I’m fortunate to spend all my time talking to people about their own business.

“I love getting under the bonnet of a business; looking at the mechanics of what makes it great and where the opportunities exist to improve it or evolve it.

“One of the best feelings is helping people to retire and realise the value of decades of work they have done and the sacrifices they have made to build the business up. I genuinely believe that the service we offer, helping to define and execute succession plans, really does help people.”

Finger on the pulse

As well as running and growing the business, Jeffreys still keeps her “finger on the pulse” by working on deals.

However, she confesses that this is also often what keeps her awake at night.

The smaller IFA businesses, with £70m or less under assets, don’t have quite as buoyant a market to sell into now

“A deal is never done until it’s done, and there are always hurdles along the way,” she says.

“We are very much at the whim of the Financial Conduct Authority to get change of control allowed for a business to sell. Then, when a business has found the perfect home, we have to go through a due-diligence process as there’s always a chance the buyer is going to change its mind.

“There are lots of steps within the process of selling a business where it can all go wrong.”

And, if it does go wrong, the financial implications for Gunner & Co can be significant.

The firm is paid only on completion of a deal, which Jeffreys says can take a minimum of a year to get through.

It’s leading these businesses down the route the FCA wants — to have fewer of these smaller companies

“We’ve got a deal currently that has been in the pipeline for over two years, which, if successful, would represent around 20% of our annual turnover.

“It might go through and it might not. If it doesn’t, I can’t just magic up another deal, and that’s tough.”

Regulation and consolidation

If the ongoing trend of acquisitions is anything to go by, Jeffreys and Gunner & Co certainly won’t have a shortage of deals coming their way. Recent research by the firm revealed that half of IFAs were looking to sell up in the next two years.

Although there are several reasons why, there is a notable increase in the number of those wanting to exit the profession solely because of regulation.

I would honestly never have sat in a job in an employed role and said, ‘I really want to own my own company one day’

“Given the number of hurdles the regulator wants these small businesses to jump over, one or two smaller adviser firms are feeling the pinch more and more,” says Jeffreys. “They are getting bored with regulation and are looking for a way out.”

One prime example of this, she adds, is the FCA’s ongoing advice review.

“The top 20 firms are being asked to go back seven years to show that annual reviews have been done and they can evidence it.

“A number of smaller firms are saying, ‘If this is the requirement, I can’t do that for all my clients so I’ll have to get rid of some.’”

She elaborates: “I had a call recently where the guy told me, if they [FCA] ask him to go back seven years, he hasn’t done his annual reviews. He is running scared.

“Smaller advice firms are under the cosh, regulatory-wise, and are generally feeling quite fed up. That is bringing more businesses to sale.”

I love business and I’m fortunate to spend all my time talking to people about their own business

Jeffreys says a lot of these business owners are simply not equipped to build out their teams “to really deliver what the regulator wants”.

She adds: “If we are honest, it’s leading these businesses down the route the FCA wants — to have fewer of these smaller companies.”

If that is the watchdog’s aim, it appears to be working.

The private-equity backed consolidators have spent the past few years on a relentless acquisition drive, snapping up dozens of smaller IFAs.

The Consumer Duty appears to have slowed things down for now — with these big firms under pressure to properly integrate the companies they have acquired.

“Integration and how they [consolidators] assess firms to buy, and what they do with them, are definitely evolving because of the Consumer Duty,” says Jeffreys.

“But their appetite to buy is not waning.”

What has changed, though, is the type of IFA they are looking to buy.

One of the best feelings is helping people to retire and realise the value of decades of work they have done

“The effort of buying and integrating companies is such that, for the most part, consolidators now want to buy bigger businesses,” says Jeffreys.

“This means the smaller IFA businesses, with £70m or less under assets, don’t have quite as buoyant a market to sell into now.

“If you go back five years, those consolidators were smaller and so what they were buying was smaller.

“Now they’ve grown, so what they want to buy has grown too.”

Juggling work and parenthood

As if running and building a business weren’t challenging enough, in the early stages of Gunner & Co’s formation Jeffreys also welcomed her son, Freddie (now six), into the world.

Smaller advice firms are under the cosh, regulatory-wise, and are generally feeling quite fed up

Like many working parents, she says, it can be tough getting the balance right — but she credits her ability to do so to a supportive network around her.

“I am really lucky to have a good support system in my husband and my family, so I can have time to go running and to work away a fair amount,” she says.

“I also have a great set of friends who are mums, and two of them own their own business, like me. We are all career led and we help buoy each other up.”

Jeffreys says that, when she is at home, she cooks all of Freddie’s meals from scratch and does “loads of homework” with him.

My friend said, ‘I think there’s a real gap in the market here.’ And that’s how it all started, really

“That’s probably why I don’t have too much guilt about going away,” she observes, “because I try and overcompensate when I am there.”

Jeffreys returned to work when Freddie was just six weeks old, and she says he’s never known anything different.

“He doesn’t ask, ‘Mummy, why are you going to London?’ All he says is, ‘Don’t forget my present.’”

A self-confessed introvert, Jeffreys says the time she spends working away helps her to reset.

“During that time, you remember being a person and not just being a mum. I have been really fortunate to be able to do that and embrace it.

“I can go away, be myself and not my ‘Mummy self’, come back and be a much better person for it. I’m sure that helps, from a mental-health perspective.”

IFAs are all just human beings. I love the ability to connect with them

Jeffreys is a big fan of Beyoncé, who famously once sang the number-one hit, ‘Run the World’. Spurred on by her musical hero, Jeffreys will literally be running the world over the next few years as she aims to complete her epic six-marathon challenge.

And when she isn’t busy running the world?

You guessed it — she’ll be running her business, running Freddie to school and listening to work-themed books as she runs.

The life of a business founder and parent, eh?

This article featured in the July/August 2024 edition of Money Marketing. 

If you would like to subscribe to the monthly magazine, please click here.

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It’s a pleasing if unusual start to my conversation with Benchmark Capital chief executive Ed Dymott, which takes place at the head office of parent company Schroders in London Wall — although it does make me wonder how easy it is to shape food into a unicorn.

Dymott also tells me that both his children — Molly, four, and Charlie, two — think he works with trains, because every time they ask where their daddy is, they are told he is on a train. When Dymott outlines his typical week, you can understand where they are coming from.

Globe-trotter

He usually divides his time between Benchmark’s Horsham office and Schroders’ London base. Otherwise, he travels to wherever he is needed, observing “the privilege of working all the way around the world”.

We want to give advisers more time and capacity to do what they do best

Dymott lives in South Croydon, not far from the Money Marketing offices, although he was born in Dulwich and grew up in Surrey. Despite his globe-trotting habits, he finds it amusing that he lives just 10 miles from his birthplace and he works only 15 miles from where he went to school.

Aside from planes and trains, however, Dymott is a big fan of automobiles, which partly influenced his decision to study automotive engineering at Loughborough University in 1997.

A keen follower of Formula 1, Dymott is fascinated by the creativity involved in designing a car and the mechanical aspects of what makes a vehicle go faster.

He has even built a Caterham 7 sports car, which he claims is fully road safe and he has driven. He shows me a picture on his mobile, which displays a car decked out in the colours of his beloved Tottenham Hotspur (Dymott is a proud season-ticket holder).

The underlying reputation of planners is still not where it needs to be

It would be wrong, however, to assume Dymott’s choice of degree was solely down to his love of cars. It also appealed to both sides of his personality.

“My mum was very artistic, and my dad was an analyst and very technical, so I guess I got a combination of both their genes — creative and artistic, but also good with numbers and analytical skills. I am a bit of a hybrid.”

Dymott tells me he is driven by a need to understand what is going on, and by a desire to improve and “never be satisfied with the status quo”.

This has carried over to his professional career, although his university experience persuaded him that he did not want to work in the car industry.

Instead, he joined Fidelity as a graduate in 2000, spending most of his time working on its platform business. In 2008, after eight years at the company, Dymott embarked on an MBA in finance at what was then Cass Business School, part of City University. Still working full time, he fitted in his studies during the evenings and at weekends.

We want advisers to provide the best experience while we work hard in the background

“It made a lot of sense to do an MBA in finance at that time,” says Dymott, even though — as he recalls with a wry smile — the industry was in meltdown due to the financial crisis.

Dymott nonetheless reasoned that most of his colleagues had financial qualifications and, after his time at Fidelity, he could see that his future career was going to be in financial services.

The move to Benchmark

This brings us to Dymott’s current role at Benchmark. He joined the firm as managing director of its wealth business in 2021.

Benchmark was established in 1993 and turned 30 last year. The company has £19bn of assets on its proprietary platform and £6bn in model portfolio solutions on behalf of more than 1,000 financial advisers. It employs over 500 staff.

We are a lot broader than a consolidator. We focus on organic growth

Since 2021, Benchmark has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Schroders, which acquired a 67% stake in the company in 2016 and then bought up the remaining equity over the next five years.

Dymott says Benchmark “gets nothing but support from Schroders”; it is, he points out, extremely well integrated and an important part of the group. He also emphasises the valuable working relationship with his Schroders colleagues.

Wealth management, Dymott claims, is a key strategic focus for Schroders, whose investment in Benchmark enabled it to grow its presence in the financial-planning market and associated it with a business that had “technology credentials”.

Dymott further notes the strength that sits behind the Schroders name, explaining that “the transparency of a listed FTSE 100 company is fantastic”.

He is particularly impressed that the Schroders family still owns 46% of the company, and that the business has a clear long-term focus — specifically around multi-generational planning, which aligns well with the financial sector.

These are not firms just wanting to be bought. These are firms that see the benefits of our service

A typical adviser, he says, works with a client over 10, 20 or 30 years, or even a lifetime, so the spotlight is “not only on one generation but also on the next”.

Dymott became CEO of Benchmark on 1 January 2024, after three years at the company. When I ask him if moving into the new role has been a notable change, he explains that it would have been odd if he had suddenly imposed a new strategy because of his promotion.

“There is a familiarity with the business; so, when you step up to a new role within the existing firm, there is a continuation of what we have been doing over the past three years.”

Overall, he regards Benchmark as a company that provides “an integrated, digitally enabled solution for high-quality financial planners”; one that offers all the tools, services and support a planner needs with which to run their business.

“Our golden aim,” says Dymott, “has always been, and continues to be, to provide all that in one place.”

Growing and expanding

Benchmark has purchased numerous advice businesses over the past few years and has recently enjoyed its best-ever year for attracting and bringing on new advisers.

However, Dymott is keen to highlight the difference between Benchmark and a consolidator, stressing the company’s continued focus on organic growth.

It is about how you use technology and drive processing in the right way

“We are a lot broader than a consolidator,” he says, pointing out that, whenever Benchmark buys another independent financial adviser, it has already worked with that IFA for a defined period.

Additionally, when it takes a stake in a company, Dymott or another representative automatically becomes a non-executive director (NED).

Dymott himself is a NED for several advice firms, such as Finura in London, Kellands in Bristol, and Robert Baxter in Huddersfield.

He points out that most of Benchmark’s efforts are directed towards supporting these firms in their day-to-day activity.

“These are not firms just wanting to be bought,” he says of the 30-plus businesses that joined the Benchmark network in 2023.

“These are firms that see the benefits of our service.”

Dymott believes that Benchmark’s record year is the result of three factors.

The first is Benchmark’s strategy of taking on firms from other networks because “they see us as a better home for their long-term growth”.

The second is directly authorised companies joining Benchmark’s network because they are looking for a more integrated solution.

Our golden aim has always been, and continues to be, to provide everything an adviser needs in one place

The third is what Dymott calls the breakaway adviser segment. This, he claims, is an “interesting market” and a big growth area for Benchmark. It largely consists of planners who may never have run a business themselves but nevertheless want to do their own thing.

“About 12 months ago we bought a business called Oculus Wealth,” says Dymott, by way of example. “It is primarily focused on the breakaway segment — really helping advisers who want to set up their own practice.”

Increasing productivity

Based on the extensive amount of time Dymott has spent with advisers and observing the sector, it’s become clear to him that an increase in productivity is what the market desires the most.

Advisers’ frustration is born out of the “tools and technology they need to work with”, so Benchmark is spending a lot of its capacity on improving this situation.

“Ultimately, we want to enable advisers to do what they do best, and give them more time and capacity to work with their clients. We want them to provide the best experience while we work hard in the background.”

Dymott says he recently spoke to a planner who, having joined the Benchmark network several years ago, felt he could not grow his financial-planning business any further and was thinking of selling it.

Benchmark gets nothing but support from Schroders

However, that business has approximately quadrupled in size over the past few years without adding any more people.

“It is just about how you use technology and drive processing in the right way,” says Dymott.

“That productivity focus is really important to us.”

As our interview draws to a close, Dymott ponders the future shape of financial advice.

The most vital aspect, he claims, is “how we continue to develop professional standards, which is really important to us”.

He continues: “If chartered status has become the standard, the question is where you go next in terms of developing the capability of our financial planners.

It would have been odd if I had suddenly imposed a new strategy because of my promotion

“I think the underlying reputation of planners is still not where it needs to be. So, if we can continue to raise the bar for the profession, it will not only be good for individual financial planners but it will be good for the long-term sustainability of this industry.”

We say our goodbyes and I exit Schroders’ offices, heading for the nearest tube station.

As I board the train — Dymott’s favourite mode of transport — a whimsical notion strikes me; one that would probably appeal to his children. Maybe the ‘Unicorn Line’ would be a fitting name for the next new route on the London Underground.

This article featured in the June 2024 edition of Money Marketing. 

If you would like to subscribe to the monthly magazine, please click here.

The post MM Meets… Ed Dymott: ‘Never be satisfied with the status quo’ appeared first on Money Marketing.

Brooks Macdonald’s chief financial officer (CFO) is softly spoken, light-hearted and humble. And she’s female (obviously).

“Recent research by a company called The Pipeline, which a good friend of mine set up, found that only 13% of the FTSE 350 have female CFOs and only 9% have female CEOs,” she says.

Accountancy background

I meet Montague at the firm’s head office in the City of London. She grew up in Northern Ireland and went to school over the road from where I went to university, so we have plenty of non-work-related chat while the photographer sets up the shoot.

After finishing school in Belfast, Montague studied languages at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, but with accountancy as a second subject.

We need to help more of the younger population get into our business at the right price point

“I followed my dad’s advice about needing a profession to make sure I got a job. I don’t know that many people wake up one day wanting to be an accountant,” she laughs.

Montague’s formative years were spent at PwC, where she qualified as a chartered accountant.

“What PwC gave me was broad management training, and that’s served me well ever since. The connections I made, those I met, were really interesting, bright people. It was a great firm.”

She took up her first finance-related role at the turn of the century with the now-defunct brewing company, Scottish & Newcastle. Then, in 2005, she joined Standard Life to lead the IPO reporting for the group.

“I had to describe what we would look like as a listed business and get shareholders engaged,” she says.

The UK market is a huge £1.3trn opportunity for the wealth management sector

“At that stage in my career it was a fantastic thing to do, and it exposed me to the analyst community. Remarkably, I still see some of them to this day; they’re still around.”

Montague did a stint as finance director for Standard Life’s Ireland-based business in Dublin, selling into the Middle East as well as local markets, before returning to the UK and taking up the role of group chief internal auditor.

“This was my first real exposure to a PLC board.”

In 2006, Standard Life was demutualised and floated on the London Stock Exchange. Listing a 250-year-old business was quite a feat and, for Montague, a definite career highlight.

“I still remember it. It was 6 July. I even delayed getting married until September because I knew I would fall up the aisle otherwise.

“It was 24/7,” she recalls. “I would come in and get the lawyers’ emails; they work overnight.

Diverse thought leadership around the table works better than two bulls going for the same target

“But we got it over the line and listed and, on the first day, the share price went up by about 10%, so we had obviously pitched it at the right price. It went on to be a FTSE 50.

“It was a successful journey, but that’s down to the leadership of that business.”

Career achievement

Montague remained at Standard Life until 2017, when she became deputy group finance director for Royal London and experienced another career highlight.

“The £600m debt raise was, at that stage in my career, a great thing to be able to do,” she says.

“I was working directly for the chairman, acting as the finance director, and we went to the market to be able to support our growth.

We’ve got to put our money where we believe there’s the best service for a client and the best return in terms of profitability

“In a mutual business, it really meant something for the members to be able to see the growth trajectory and their returns improved.”

After leaving Royal London in 2020, Montague joined Aviva as chief financial controller. She was promoted to group chief risk officer in 2021 — a role she remained in until her departure last year to join Brooks Macdonald as CFO.

Of course, Montague’s career has not been without challenges.

“There have been many bumps in the road,” she says.

“The one that sticks in my mind the most was 2008 — I would summarise it as my first interaction with men and the dynamics of business.

“We had an internal challenge that got escalated from the person I worked with up to the finance director, and it didn’t land well. I recognised that the absolute must in life is to never lose communication.”

The ambition is to help people secure their future. And I’m really excited about it

The incident happened during the financial crisis. Standard Life had some residential property on the balance sheet.

“I should have communicated it directly,” says Montague.

But she found herself on the receiving end of business politics.

“In the end, it worked out for the better because the finance director trusted me and we got through it.

“It’s taught me that diverse thought leadership around the table works better than two bulls going for the same target, frankly.”

The main thing is to get the right team behind you so you can work through any challenges, she says.

“And focus on the task rather than on who is at fault.”

There is still a place for BPS. A lot of our client base has got complex needs. They’re higher-net-worth individuals

Diversity of thought is not just about gender, she observes.

“I think more and more people recognise the need for diversity. If businesses truly believe that it will help the bottom line, it will happen. You don’t need a survey to tell you it does because you see it in action.”

Crossing divides

Growing up in Northern Ireland during the latter half of the Troubles, Montague witnessed the extremes of hate-driven violence. From a young age, she was encouraged by her parents to cross the religious divide. She went to a school that housed both denominations.

“We need to cross divides across the globe,” she says. “We have only to look at the geopolitical situation now. It’s rarely religion that’s really behind it. It’s tribal.”

It’s a very difficult market environment. But we all hope it will improve and there’s a bright future ahead

Although she believes there is more to do in the finance industry to widen diversity and inclusion, Montague thinks “we have the right incentives and the right forums”.

She insists: “We need to be less patient and just get on with it. And take chances on people from diverse backgrounds.”

At the time of our interview, Montague has been in her role at Brooks for just eight months. She’s excited for the firm’s future.

“We’ve been here for 32 years. What do the next 10 look like?

“I’ve got the responsibility for finance, M&A and strategy. I’m lucky to have a really strong team, which has allowed me to lean into the strategy piece for the board. So I can think about the bigger picture and how we set up for success.”

Brooks Macdonald has an ambitious plan to become a top-five wealth manager in the UK through both organic and inorganic growth. Its half-year results to December 2023, published in March this year, showed an 8% rise in revenue to £63.6m.

It said in the report that this had been partially driven by higher financial planning revenue, following the acquisitions in the previous period. Montague hints at future acquisitions in the pipeline.

We need to cross divides across the globe

But it’s not all rosy. In the same set of results, Brooks said it had launched a strategic review of its international business, which had “not performed as hoped”.

Montague says: “We’re working through that now. We’ll update the market at our year-end results in August. As a shareholder business, we have to make sure that we either improve the business or look at other opportunities.”

Tough decision

Last October, Brooks announced it would reduce the number of roles in the organisation by around 55 amid “evolving market dynamics”.

I’m lucky to have a really strong team, which has allowed me to lean into the strategy piece for the board

This, says Montague, was a tough decision.

“We effectively reduced the workforce by 10%.”

The action was expected to result in an annualised staff cost reduction of around £4m.

Important to note, Montague says, was that Brooks had “invested heavily” in operations and technology.

“These things are never easy. But we tried to do it as professionally as possible. And it’s a testament to those individuals that most seem to have found jobs already.”

She points out that the business also has some brilliant people coming on board, including a new commercial director of finance who has joined from Abrdn, and a new head of wealth from Investec.

More and more people recognise the need for diversity. If businesses truly believe that it will help the bottom line, it will happen

“Every business needs to focus on the areas it’s good at, and that’s what we do,” says Montague. “It’s a very difficult market environment. But we all hope it will improve and there’s a bright future ahead.”

Since the Retail Distribution Review came into effect in 2012, there has been a gradual shift from bespoke portfolio services (BPS) to model portfolio services. In recent years this has begun to hit discretionary fund managers, who are finding that advisers rely on them less and less.

Montague fervently believes there is still a place for BPS.

“A lot of our client base has got complex needs. They’re higher-net-worth individuals who have complex investments or tax positions. Bespoke is a great service for them, and they really appreciate that interaction with the investment manager.”

The future looks bright, she says.

“The UK market is a huge £1.3trn opportunity for the wealth management sector.”

Brooks plans to capitalise and is in the process of looking at its existing portfolios and considering the future services required to serve people’s needs.

“The big opportunity,” states Montague, “is decumulation.

There have been many bumps in the road

“Retirement is a difficult and risky period of life when you’ve got no further income and you’ve got your asset pot to last a lifetime.”

Life expectancy in the UK continues to increase, driven by improved working conditions, reduced smoking rates and better healthcare. Estimates from the Office for National Statistics suggest the number of people aged 100 or over in England and Wales hit a record high in 2021. One in three children born today is expected to live beyond 100.

“That’s a long time to not work,” says Montague. “And it’s that asset and liability matching, and selling at the right time rather than at the bottom of the market, that decumulation can help with.

“But we have to help people grow their assets as well because it’s too late by the time they retire. We need to help more of the younger population get into our business at the right price point, and then we grow with them.

“That’s the ambition: to help people secure their future. And I’m really excited about it.”

What PwC gave me was broad management training, and that’s served me well ever since

The strategy is coming together, and Montague says next time we meet she’ll be able to share more.

“We have to get the board excited about it next.”

As a self-professed “maximiser”, Montague would “love to do everything yesterday”.

But, she says: “We’ve got to put our money where we believe there’s the best service for a client and the best return in terms of profitability. This is an evolution more than anything.”

This article featured in the May 2024 edition of Money Marketing. 

If you would like to subscribe to the monthly magazine, please click here.

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I don’t think the title enthused the current head of client relationships and distribution at CCLA, but it seems a fitting mantra for a man who has been gleaning and sharing experience across the asset management industry since the early 1990s.

After obtaining a degree in history from Bristol University, Berens started in a fund sales role for Hambros Fund Management in 1993.

There is a genuine demand to understand sustainability more

“I thought I was going be one of those people that, when I had put the last full stop down on my last finals paper, there would be some divine enlightenment about what I should do,” Berens tells me when we meet at CCLA’s head office on London’s Angel Lane.

“But I had no idea what I was going to do.”

Like many, Berens ‘fell into’ financial services.

“What I liked about fund management was the idea of taking people’s capital, growing it and delivering an income from it,” he says. “I thought, ‘That’s so creative.’”

Finance seems a world away from history, but there is some common ground, Berens argues.

“When you study history, you see cycles appear and you learn about individuals who have dramatic impacts on the world. Similarly, in fund management, cycles are created over time. They’re never exactly the same, but they chime.”

I would love CCLA to be the firm that advisers of whatever shape or size come to

One of the main things that attracted Berens to fund management was the responsibility a fund manager has over people’s money, with a duty to invest it in a way that makes returns for the customer.

“It’s one of the most powerful things you can do,” he says.

Hambros Fund Management merged with Guinness Flight in 1998. The business has since broken up but remnants exist in the form of companies such as JO Hambro and SG Kleinwort Hambros.

“I’ve always been involved on the client-facing side of asset management throughout my career,” says Berens.

After leaving Hambros in 1996, he joined Fleming’s, which was bought by Chase Manhattan Bank in 2000 and — through various deals — became what is now JP Morgan Asset Management. Berens remained there for 20 years, becoming managing director and head of the firm’s UK retail management business.

We believe that SDR is heading in the right direction and we can play a very major part in that

He left in 2018 and moved into the role of global head of distribution at Artemis, where he stayed for three years.

“After I left Artemis, I was thinking about what to do next.”

Inspiration strikes

It was Sir David Attenborough’s 2020 documentary, ‘A Life on Our Planet’, that fortified Berens’ decision to move into the world of sustainability investing.

“What [the film] did brilliantly, as it went through each decade, was to show the impact that mankind was having on the world at different times throughout history. It was deeply moving.

“It made the point very strongly that capitalism could play a part in the shift to a more sustainable future. And I thought, ‘Right, this is the moment. How can I use my 30 years of client-facing experience to make a difference in the world?’”

Despite its size, Amazon wants to engage with us on mental health. It is listening to us

Berens joined CCLA in his current role in September 2021.

“The reason I joined CCLA and took up this role was I felt very strongly that I wanted to work for a fund management company that genuinely believed in making real-world change, and in using its investment platform to make that happen.”

The role also enabled Berens to explore his entrepreneurial side.

CCLA has a long heritage, having been born through the launch of the Church of England Investment Fund in 1958. This allowed church organisations to pool their funds for greater efficiency and service.

Local authorities followed this lead in 1961 and, in 1963, the Charity Commission emulated them for the broader charity market.

Prior to the FCA’s involvement, intermediaries and consumers were confused by what sustainability ESG was

With the introduction of financial services regulation in 1987, Churches, Charities and Local Authorities [CCLA] Investment Management Limited was formed.

The firm places its focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG), ethical and responsible investment — an ethos that stems from this heritage. It is owned by investment funds of its three client groups — churches, charities and local authorities.

It describes itself as the “spirit of a mutual in the body of a commercial private limited company”.

Berens says: “CCLA has historically operated in the not-for-profit sector. But several people were coming from that sector to CCLA, asking it to invest their own assets. There was no opportunity for CCLA to do that, so we wanted to create one. It was the perfect role for me because it allowed me to join a great and well-established organisation but also build something new.”

For the past two years, Berens has been building CCLA’s sustainability offering for advisers and clients.

I wanted to work for a fund management company that genuinely believed in making real-world change, and in using its investment platform to make that happen

“We’ve got a team of five people who have joined us to take our capability out into the discretionary and advisory markets for end consumers,” he says.

“We have launched the Better World Global Equity fund, which is now about £290m in size.

“We’ve got the fund onto 34 platforms. This is one of the things that we’re most proud of because getting funds onto retail platforms, even at the biggest global fund management companies, is not particularly easy.”

Berens explains that CCLA has been taking its product out to more and more advisers and discretionary fund managers by talking to the press, going to events and using the “old-fashioned” means: calling people.

“The reaction has been an incredibly strong one,” he says.

“We understand that there is a strong demand out there for a fund management company that can bring proper sustainability to advisers and their clients, but also strong investment returns.

“Our global equity fund does exactly that.”

Regulatory change

Berens says two recent pieces of regulation, which both came into effect last year, have been “absolutely critical” for the future of CCLA as a retail intermediary business: the Consumer Duty and the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR).

It was the perfect role because it allowed me to join a great and well-established organisation but also build something new

The Financial Conduct Authority brought in its Consumer Duty rules at the end of July. The new regulations marked a “major shift” by setting higher and clearer standards of consumer protection. They have already led to firms making changes to savings rates and fees.

In November, the regulator published its final rules under the SDR. It is hoped the measures will “improve the trust and transparency” of sustainable investment products and “minimise greenwashing”, which is defined as the act of “making people believe that your company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is”.

As part of the requirements, the regulator has introduced four new sustainability labels: ‘focus’, ‘improvers’, ‘impact’ and ‘mixed goal’.

Berens believes SDR is pointing the fund management industry in the right direction.

What I liked about fund management was the idea of taking people’s capital, growing it and delivering an income from it. I thought: that’s so creative

“Prior to the FCA’s involvement, intermediaries and consumers were confused by what sustainability ESG was.

“I think there’s now going to be much greater clarity in understanding what products are and what they’re intended to deliver. That is a really good outcome for consumers.”

But there is still “much work to be done”, he insists.

“Where [CCLA] is going to primarily sit is around the ‘improvers’ label. We believe strongly that being able to engage with the companies that we invest in, and companies generally, is how you make change happen.

“SDR allows for the classification of products and funds into various buckets. Both ‘focus’ and ‘impact’ invest in companies that are already there in terms of sustainability. ‘Improver’ allows people to invest in companies where change is still to happen and where we, as investors or shareholders, can make it happen.

The Attenborough film made the point very strongly that capitalism could play a part in the shift to a more sustainable future

“That’s how capitalism can make change. That’s how fund management, as a major component of capitalism, can make the change happen.

“We believe that SDR is heading in the right direction and CCLA can play a very major part in that.”

Mind over matter

One of the things that CCLA does “incredibly well” is engagement on mental health, says Berens.

The Global Health Data Exchange estimates that 15% of the world’s working population experiences a mental disorder at any given time. This is not only bad for health, it is bad for business.

We have launched the Better World Global Equity fund, which is now about £290m in size. We’ve got it onto 34 platforms

On its website, CCLA says it believes the stark human and economic costs associated with poor mental health represent a substantial obstacle to companies’ success. Put simply, employers are losing billions of pounds because employees are less productive, off sick or leaving work altogether.

In 2021, CCLA piloted its corporate mental health benchmark, which ranks firms globally on what they do to help improve employees’ mental health. After a successful trial, the benchmark launched fully in May 2022, comparing the performance of the 100 largest UK-listed companies. It went global in the autumn of that year, focusing on the 200 largest listed firms.

Berens says: “This will allow us to engage with the companies that we invest in around particular aspects such as mental health.”

The mental health benchmark was impressive enough to attract the attention of Amazon.

“We invest in Amazon because it’s a great company,” says Berens. “We think the returns you can get from it are enough to justify why it should be in the portfolio. But there are aspects we are uncomfortable with.

I thought: how can I use my 30 years of client-facing experience to make a difference in the world?

“Despite its size, Amazon wants to engage with us on mental health. It is listening to an organisation such as CCLA — a very small investor relative to much more significant ones.”

The firm’s ambitions do not stop there. Berens says its focus will remain squarely on encouraging firms to move towards a more sustainable way of doing business.

AdviserAction

In November last year, the organisation spearheaded a first-of-its-kind membership organisation called AdviserAction.

The idea behind the scheme, whose founding members include Castlefield, ESG Accord, Fintel and Paradigm Norton, is to engage with listed companies to “drive sustainable outcomes”.

“We want to make AdviserAction work,” says Berens. “The execution of that will be really important.

I’ve always been involved on the client-facing side of asset management throughout my career

“As we start to demonstrate real-world change through it, and make a genuine difference through engagements, I think more and more people will want to join it. And then more advisers will look at CCLA.

“There’s a genuine demand out there not only for engagement with companies but to understand sustainability more.

“I would love CCLA to be the firm that advisers of whatever shape or size come to, not just from an investment perspective but from a business perspective, to understand sustainability and why it’s important.

“If CCLA becomes the brand that is synonymous with that in the advice community, I will be an extremely happy man.”

This article featured in the April 2024 edition of MM. 

If you would like to subscribe to the monthly magazine, please click here.

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I’m standing on the top floor of Quilter’s impressive offices near St Paul’s Cathedral. The firm’s communications head is with me and the two of us look out forlornly over a rain-lashed roof terrace.

The photographer had planned some dynamic shots of the view across London, but the weather simply isn’t playing ball.

“I’m pretty sure it won’t stay this way.”

Some of the other companies did a Big Bang migration. Unfortunately, a few of those did go bang

I’ve already endured a damp trek across the Millenium Bridge, my cheap (and now broken) umbrella failing utterly in its task. And, despite the optimistic predictions of my companion, it looks like bright and cheerful pictures will be another casualty.

As we descend to the lower floors for my interview with the CEO — and in search of more promising photo locations — I’m mentally changing the strapline I had in mind for this article. Instead of ‘Quilter on top of the world’, we may have to go for something more appropriate to the occasion: ‘Storm clouds gather over Quilter’, or similar.

Unfortunately for me (although not for the firm), the story simply doesn’t fit the strapline. In fact — in marked contrast to the gloomy weather — Quilter’s prospects are resolutely sunny.

Looking on the bright side

Earlier this year, Quilter became the largest advised platform in terms of assets under administration, with Quilter Financial Planning already the UK’s second-biggest advice business by number of advisers.

Recent upgrades to its widely acclaimed platform include a new App Hub — launched in partnership with FNZ and aimed at improving financial planning conversations with clients — and, lately unveiled, the CashHub, more of which later.

Quite often, advisers are not interested in learning new things, so we needed a good engagement plan

The Quilter Financial Adviser School, meanwhile, continues to tackle the much-discussed ‘advice gap’ by playing “a key role in the development of the next generation of financial advisers”, in the words of managing director Amanda Cassidy. More than 500 students have already qualified through its part-time or ‘fast-track’ diploma courses, and it plans to introduce a support programme for these graduates as they enter the advice world.

All this expansion has come despite a harsh economic backdrop. According to a report by Fundscape, adviser platforms experienced an all-time low during the third quarter (Q3) of 2023, with net flows falling to £1.3bn. However, the report also made a point of singling out Quilter for praise, noting that its success derives from its vertically integrated platform, funds and adviser section.

It just goes to show that, in tough times, true quality will rise to the top. And for the man behind much of this success, CEO Steven Levin, this is only the beginning.

“The base that we’ve built is going to only go from strength to strength,” says Levin.

Our business was already in good shape, but we’ve used the Consumer Duty as an opportunity to do even more

“As the markets recover and we start seeing clients invest more, I think that our platform, the all-round quality of our proposition and the support we give advisers stand us in really good stead.”

Originally from Cape Town, South Africa, Levin joined the group now known as Quilter in 1998 and has been with it throughout its various evolutions and rebrands (“Over the years, my business card has changed from Old Mutual to Skandia, back to Old Mutual and now Quilter, but the companies have pretty much been the same”).

The changes he has overseen during that period have suited someone who acknowledges that he gets “bored quite quickly”.

Levin says: “The company has been very good to me because I’ve changed job every three years. I’ve always been doing something different.

AI should allow advisers to give advice at lower prices, which in turn should help with the advice gap

“At times, I’ve been pushed or thrown into the deep end; sometimes I’ve had bosses retire and give me their job, which can be daunting. But I’ve also thrived on that. And I’ve always had good support and mentorship.”

An eventful journey

Levin started out in insurance and asset management, but quickly realised that he didn’t want to be a full-time investor.

“It felt like a bit of a spectator sport,” he confesses. “I wasn’t running a business; I was watching a business. Obviously, being young, I learned a huge amount from it, but I ultimately decided that wasn’t for me.”

There was quite a big gap between the first migration and the second one because we were learning and tweaking things

Instead, Levin moved into the field of product development: in his words, “building and designing products, fixing old ones and modernising things”. Although he admits that analysing financial statements, year in, year out, would drive him “completely potty”, he has an eye for detail that — allied with a thirst for change — has driven many of Quilter’s greatest innovations.

“I think it’s more of an issue for people who don’t like change, because that’s the world we live in. Nothing stands still.

“I quite enjoy the strategic challenges, the dynamism of market conditions. Solving problems, I guess, is what I’ve always loved. Fortunately — or unfortunately — we have no shortage of those across the advice industry.”

After relocating to the UK in 2010, Levin assisted Quilter in its goal of becoming a UK-focused integrated wealth management business with a platform, advice and asset management. This meant “selling off all the non-core parts, the businesses in Europe and the international business”, and buying an advice business called Intrinsic, later to become Quilter Financial Planning.

We’re very happy with where our platform is. It’s winning awards and doing great things

Crucially, it also meant modernising its platform — something we described in these pages as “Quilter’s epic platform migration journey” and for which Levin took centre stage.

“It was a three-and-a-half-year programme, the biggest platform migration in the UK to date. It’s a very complicated process because you need to move to something that’s new generation and that does everything you want it to, but you’ve also got to make sure the assets move smoothly.

“On top of that, advisers must be taken on the journey. Quite often, advisers aren’t interested in a whole lot of change or learning new things, so we needed a good engagement plan.”

There was also an amount of trepidation from advisers following some unsuccessful migrations by Quilter’s competitors. One of the lessons learned from these experiences was the need for a ‘phased’ migration — introducing changes step by step and bringing everyone along.

“Some of the other companies did what they call a Big Bang migration, where you do everything in one go. Unfortunately, some of those did go bang. Their call centres came under massive pressure and effectively fell over. We needed to avoid that.

Most companies, ourselves included, are looking more at internal uses for AI before we start looking at external uses

“When you move to a new platform, your staff are less productive in the first few months as they learn new things. It doesn’t matter how much you’ve trained. So, our initial phase was just 10% of our book. That was big enough to test all the scenarios and small enough that we could handle it if the advisers struggled, or the calls doubled from those advisers.

“There was quite a big gap between that first migration and the second one, because we were learning and tweaking things. But, once that was done, we did two further iterations of about 45% each to make up the whole book. It worked out well for us.”

View from the top

Levin took over as CEO of Quilter in November 2022. When asked about his ambitions for the company, he stresses the need for evolution rather than revolution, “building out our distribution, supporting advisers, enhancing our proposition and driving efficiency in our business”.

Investment felt like a bit of a spectator sport. I wasn’t running a business; I was watching a business

Instead of trying to do “too many little things”, Levin says he is focused on the “big dial turners” within these areas.

“We’ve made a lot of changes to our advice business. For example, we’ve launched a franchise model called Quilter Partners. We’ve introduced tiered charging, to allow advisers to structure their own fees, and co-branding for advisers using our platform, so they can show their proposition more prominently to customers. These are all positive enhancements.”

Most recently, Quilter launched a savings service called CashHub. As we reported in January, this is a convenient way for clients to manage cash savings alongside their Quilter platform investments, while also giving advisers “a more accurate view of a client’s overall wealth position during financial planning conversations”.

Throughout our conversation, Levin emphasises the compatibility of changes such as these with the introduction of the Consumer Duty last July, which he sees as a positive development.

I quite enjoy the strategic challenges, the dynamism of market conditions

“The Consumer Duty is really aligned with the way we’ve built Quilter. Some companies have had to make big changes as a result, but we’ve always been structured around openness, transparency, no lock-ins — all of those things. So, our business was in good shape, but we’ve used [the Consumer Duty] as an opportunity to do even more.”

Indeed, there’s no sign of complacency from Levin, who is aware of all the challenges facing the financial advice sector — from the growing advice gap (“solving that is critical for savers”) to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), which he regards as “completely transformational”.

He says: “Right now, you can make AI-created video content that talks to clients — a face of whatever age profile you want talking back to you. We’ve experimented with this, and I’ve seen the demos. I don’t know whether clients would like that or whether they would be completely put off by it. But we don’t need to know the answer to that just yet.

The base that we’ve built is going to only go from strength to strength

“Most companies, ourselves included, are looking more at internal uses for AI before we start looking at external uses.

“The advice processes and journeys certainly need significant improvement and investment to make them more efficient, and I think AI will play a part in that. It should allow advisers to give advice at lower prices, which in turn should help with the advice gap. But these are going to be interesting developments to watch.”

Onwards and upwards

For now, though, things are looking up for Quilter and 2024 promises to be another successful year.

“We’re very happy with where our platform is,” concludes Levin with a smile. “It’s winning awards and doing great things.

The company has been very good to me because I’ve changed job every three years

“Plus, inflation is on the way down and interest rates should start falling this year. That will help to restore some confidence to investors. It may be only towards the back end of 2024 but we could be on the cusp of a strong return.”

With that, we shake hands and say our goodbyes. I collect my ragged umbrella from the front desk and head out into town. The skies haven’t quite cleared up yet, but fortunately there are some bright spots breaking through.

On second thoughts, maybe that’s a more appropriate strapline.

This article featured in the March 2024 edition of MM. 

If you would like to subscribe to the monthly magazine, please click here.

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This is one of my first thoughts when I meet Tyndall Investment Management CEO Alex Odd.

It has been prompted by an incredibly quick wardrobe change on his part. (Some readers may recall those immortal words being uttered by contestants on the former TV programme, Stars In Their Eyes, before they revealed which famous singer they were going to impersonate after being transformed by the costume department.)

Odd’s train was delayed by a combination of train strikes and snow, so he has arrived for our MM Meets appointment slightly later than planned, and wearing casual clothing. He gives a polite greeting then disappears to his office to change.

For us to tell advisers what their clients think is utterly ridiculous

Just moments later a suit-clad Odd returns, reminding me instantly of those Stars In Their Eyes contestants, emerging through the smoky doors miraculously restyled as their chosen singer. I resist the temptation to ask him for a song.

Odd is not just the CEO of Tyndall but also its founder. As we sit in the head office in London, which is beautifully situated right next to Westminster Abbey, he tells me how the investment management house came into existence, starting with his own career journey.

From fund manager to CEO

Odd graduated from the University of Manchester in 1995, having studied both politics and history. In the course of his degree he drifted towards political history, with a particular interest in the evolution of Greek classical democracy and liberalism.

“I was lucky enough to do a degree in something I was interested in,” he says.

No one is here for the money. They are here because of what they can do

His first employed role was at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as a trainee auditor, where Odd wanted to obtain a professional qualification to help him in the job market. As a fellow history graduate, I understand this — while at university I was often asked, “What do you want to do after graduation?”

However, Odd recalls that, just five months in to his accountancy qualification, “it was very clear that this was not for me”.

After his departure from PwC, someone introduced him to Jupiter Fund Management.

“It was growing very quickly and they kindly offered me a job,” he says.

Odd started in Jupiter’s marketing department, where he produced reports and accounts for funds. This entailed spending a lot of time with fund managers and, a couple of years later, he was asked to move into fund management.

He became assistant manager of Jupiter’s flagship income trust fund.

The way we run the company is that we are one team

A few years had passed when Odd received a phone call from M&G, with “a really interesting opportunity” to run its dividend fund. M&G had built a talented team of fund managers, so he made the switch.

“For my two main periods of employment before Tyndall, I was lucky enough to work with people who were absolutely at the top of their game,” he observes.

Odd believes that a key part of successful investing is the way in which people respond to adversity. He says the 2008 financial crisis taught him that “it’s not about when things are great and going up; it’s about when things are tougher”.

A happy accident

In November 2014 Tyndall Investment Management came into being, almost by accident.

“I had no ambition at all to run a business,” says Odd, “but I have ended up running one.”

It is about finding the right people to join Tyndall and, if they happen to be in York, we will happily open a York office

For a while, Odd had been feeling that what he attributed value to “was less available [at M&G], so we agreed to disagree on that”.

On leaving the firm, all he wanted was to run a small income fund in his own way rather than how other people thought he should.

He was introduced to an investment firm called Valu-Trac by two former Baillie Gifford partners. Valu-Trac allowed him to launch an income fund, which pleased him greatly, so Tyndall’s genesis was as “a single-product, single-person business”.

When Odd went out to seek support for his fund, he soon realised that the frustrations he faced were industry wide.

Advisers are the cornerstone of a successful fund, so Tyndall likes to speak to as many of them as possible

“But it was nothing in comparison to some of the pressures being felt in the private-client space,” he says.

“I originally thought that the circumstances I had found myself in at M&G were primarily related to the evolution of the firm, but actually they were much more reflective of a broader transition of the marketplace.”

Swift expansion

As a result, Odd’s single-person, single-product business was transformed into three funds and a private-client business, all within a year.

“It was only at this point that running a business became an active consideration,” he says.

“At the start I was a fund manager and I just happened to be the director of a business. But, once other people came on board, we had to get a structure in place and take responsibility for different things.”

I do not profess to tell people how to work best. We give them the flexibility to choose how to do it

Odd still remembers the meeting where the six people working with him said they needed a chief executive.

“It was one of those great moments where literally no one wanted to do it. So, everyone just turned around and said, ‘Alex, you must do it as it’s your responsibility.’

“That’s how it came about. It was a strange day; you don’t think of yourself like that.”

Three business sections

Tyndall Investment Management has three businesses: funds, private clients and partnerships. These translate into a 360-degree relationship with advisers, whom Odd says are “absolutely integral in everything we do”.

The firm runs three active funds: VT Tyndall North American, VT Tyndall Global Select and VT Tyndall Unconstrained UK Income. Although Odd believes passive funds have a role to play too, the point of investment management, he says, is to try to generate some excess return for clients.

It is important to remember how integral advisers are to clients’ financial wellbeing; and, by extension, to their broader wellbeing

He thinks passives are low cost because they do not tend to generate excess return, but he acknowledges that “half of the time, active managers are not delivering on generating better returns”.

Despite this, there is definitely “the opportunity for good excess return from good active managers”.

Advisers are the cornerstone of a successful fund, says Odd, so Tyndall likes to speak to as many of them as possible.

Emotional energy

The Tyndall income fund is no longer run by Odd. He feels there is too much emotional energy involved in running a fund and a business at the same time. Odd’s former colleague from M&G, Simon Murphy, now runs the income fund.

“Tyndall has the best-performing income fund in the UK due to Simon’s hard work, and I am focused 100% on the business,” states Odd.

Advisers are the only people who truly understand the underlying client base

The private-client business runs money directly for individual retail clients and is a discretionary fund manager. Odd explains that this part of the firm often works alongside advisers, so clients have access to Tyndall’s investment management services but can also utilise adviser skills.

Finally, the partnerships business provides investment services to advice firms, not the underlying client. Additionally, Tyndall often takes over running the investment mandate for independent financial advisers.

Advisers know best

Tyndall effectively makes a tailored model portfolio service for advisers. Odd says Tyndall head of partnerships James Sullivan provides “a genuine service to the advice community” by speaking to advisers and establishing what they want, instead of telling them what they should have.

“Advisers are the only people who truly understand the underlying client base, so for us to tell them what their clients think is utterly ridiculous.”

He adds that the Tyndall name now resonates with the adviser market because more and more IFAs have heard of it.

Half of the time, active managers are not delivering on generating better returns

“It is important to remember how integral advisers are to clients’ financial wellbeing; and, by extension, to their broader wellbeing,” observes Odd.

“It is a vital service and advisers do a fantastic job in supporting people.”

He adds: “It is a very demanding role and we are so proud to support them [in turn].”

Culture of flexibility

As the establishment of Tyndall has been a personal journey for Odd, naturally he views the firm as his baby. But he claims the other 32 people who work for the investment management house feel the same.

Referring to the firm’s culture, Odd says: “No one is here for the money. They are here because of what they can do.”

The circumstances I found myself in at M&G were reflective of a broader transition of the marketplace

As a result, he has implemented flexible working at Tyndall.

Living in the town of Hexham in Northumberland — near where he grew up and where his mother still lives — he finds that coming to London only when he needs to is “far more conducive” to his work-life balance.

He says: “You either spend your time in London and then go and see your family back in Northumberland or the other way around: live in Northumberland and come to London.

“This is something we have tried to instil across the whole business. I do not profess to tell people how to work best. We give them the flexibility to choose how to do it.”

The same thinking was behind Tyndall’s decision to open a second office, in York, where Odd also spends time when not in London or on the road meeting clients.

For my two main periods of employment before Tyndall, I was lucky enough to work with people who were absolutely at the top of their game

“The way we run the company is that we are one team,” he says.

“It is about finding the right people to join Tyndall and, if they happen to be in York, we will happily open a York office.”

With that, as you would expect from a busy CEO, Odd tells me he has another meeting to attend.

We say our goodbyes and he disappears once again through those smoky doors.

This article featured in the February 2024 edition of MM. 

If you would like to subscribe to the monthly magazine, please click here.

The post MM Meets… Tyndall Investment Management CEO Alex Odd: ‘I had no ambition at all to run a business’ appeared first on Money Marketing.

In this series, we get to know the people in the top jobs and the plans they have for their organisations.

Take a look at our highlights from the past 12 months and keep an eye out for more big names next year!

MM Meets Maxime Carmignac: ‘You don’t inherit a family business from your parents; you borrow it from your children’

In the first MM Meets of 2023, Maxime Carmignac of the French asset manager dynasty, describes a love of competition that has driven her since childhood, the ‘special time horizon’ of a family business, and creating financial products for women.

MM Meets: GBST boss Rob DeDominicis: ‘Getting the entire industry to agree is very difficult’

GBST chief executive on forming his first business when ‘there was no such thing as fintech start-ups’, going live before Y2K and the challenge of keeping up with technology.

MM Meets: EQ Investors’ Sophie Kennedy: ‘There’s not one sustainability mandate that fits all’

The co-CEO of EQ Investors, Sophie Kennedy, tells us more about driving systemic change throughout the industry, collaborating with B Corp peers and fostering an inclusive environment.

MM Meets: Octopus Investments former CEO Ruth Handcock on living outside one’s comfort zone

Octopus Investments former CEO Ruth Handcock on living outside her comfort zone, offering products that make a difference to customers’ lives and helping change the world.

MM Meets: M&G Wealth managing director David Montgomery: ‘If there is something big going on, I want to be involved’

M&G Wealth’s managing director speaks to Michael Klimes about his love of America, his early career in the States and what his plans for the company are going forward.

MM Meets: CISI chief executive Tracy Vegro: ‘We want youngsters to stay in the sector for life’

Still excited by her newish role as head of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, Tracy Vegro is keen for the membership body to be seen as both relevant and modernising.

MM Meets: Doug Brown: ‘Joining Aviva was a privilege and I couldn’t refuse the opportunity’

Aviva UK & Ireland Life CEO Doug Brown talks openly to Momodou Musa Touray about having ‘one of the best jobs in the UK’, life in his adopted country and his plans for the wealth sector.

MM Meets: Verve Group chief executive Cathi Harrison: ‘My comfort zone is chaos’

The paraplanner turned support service powerhouse talks to Money Marketing‘s features editor Maria Nicholls about her big business shift, juggling work and parenthood – and how to fix financial services.

A conversation you won’t want to miss.

MM Meets: Standard Life CEO Andy Curran: ‘We have been distant from IFAs for too long’

The Standard Life CEO wants to regain the ‘fantastic relationship’ the company had with advisers two decades ago — and he is prepared to put in the work.

MM Meets: Alex Cowan-Sanluis, chief executive, Platform One: ‘I like not knowing what’s around the corner’

As ‘someone who likes changing things’, Alex Cowan-Sanluis has transformed Platform One since becoming its chief executive in 2019. Here, he talks to chief reporter Lois Vallely about how much he enjoys being outside his comfort zone.

MM Meets… FNZ’s Alastair Conway: ‘I’ve got the best of both worlds’

In November’s MM Meets, FNZ’s chief executive for the UK, Middle East and Africa, Alastair Conway, tells Money Marketing‘s senior reporter Momodou Touray how he is relishing his main task of furthering FNZ’s mission of ‘opening up wealth’.

MM Meets… Embark CEO Jackie Leiper: ‘We’re moving away from traditional business boundaries’

Embark’s chief executive speaks to chief reporter Lois Vallely about implementing auto-enrolment, buying a platform, building new propositions and fostering growth.

The post Highlights from our 2023 MM Meets interview series appeared first on Money Marketing.

Spoiler alert, it isn’t. But I will start off by saying that I hope everyone has an amazing Christmas and a happy New Year. Also, I want to say thank you to everyone who has taken the time to speak to me this year when it has come to writing articles and interviewing different people.

However, this Weekend Essay does focus on something I have learned while interviewing different people for Money Marketing.

I think that, to date, one of the biggest interviews I have conducted was with Standard Life CEO Andy Curran. It was part of the MM Meets series that went on the site in September.

It was an amazing experience getting to sit down with Curran and talk about his professional journey, his time at Standard Life, his plans and his personal ethos for both life and business.

It was also nice being able to touch on Curran’s more personal side of life as we do in our MM Meets series, and not just focus purely on business.

I will admit that I was a bit nervous before sitting down and interviewing Curran. I have never had a photographer accompany me to an interview.

But it was a great experience both meeting and interviewing him.

Following this encounter, I did feel more confident interviewing various professionals at different levels of seniority. However, I still get a bit nervous when interviewing different people from various companies.

While I was having a drink with some colleagues, this topic came up. I was told that I should remember that “everyone is just another person”.

I thought that this was a good bit of advice and mentality to hold while interviewing different people.

The person who gave me this advice was Headlinemoney head of sales Martin Quinn. It was not only helpful but also seems to put Quinn in a good frame of mind.

He has appeared on GB News a couple of times speaking about his role in the Payment Choice Alliance, which has a goal of ensuring a law is on the statute books establishing the right of everyone in the UK to choose how they pay; and, in particular, enabling them to use their cash “when and where they choose”.

Quinn was even interviewed by GB News anchor Nigel Farage back in August.

I thought if this advice has helped him deal with speaking to Farage, knowing the interview would end up on television, then this is the right attitude to have.

Admittedly, Quinn was the interviewee and not the interviewer, but clearly this way of thinking helps when talking to high profile or senior individuals.

Quinn has even written a Weekend Essay for Money Marketing about the need for cash and how we cannot afford to lose it.

I remember the last time I was out with some friends, I was left thinking about the Payment Choice Alliance. I wanted to pay for a round of drinks with some cash in my wallet, to which the bartender replied: “No sorry, we only take card.”

Anyway, back to my original point.

I recently conducted my second MM Meets with another CEO. I won’t reveal who as I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but Money Marketing readers will find out early next year.

I had Quinn’s bit of advice in my head while conducting the interview and it really did help. I felt like the interview went well.

I am hopeful people who read this will see this way of thinking in action next year.

I am looking forward to it.

The post Weekend Essay: ‘Remember that everyone is just another person’ appeared first on Money Marketing.