MM Meets… Andrea Montague: ‘Every business needs to focus on the areas it’s good at’

Picture the finance boss of a major investment management firm and Andrea Montague is probably not the person who springs to mind.

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.