Rathbones has partnered with Credit Suisse as it looks to develop its private client office.
In its first quarter results released today (May 18), Rathbones announced it had reached an agreement with the Swiss firm to offer a range of specialist private banking products and services to its clients.
The alliance aims to complement Rathbones’ own discretionary fund management, tax, trust, financial planning and banking services.
Mark Nicholls, chairman of Rathbones, said he “remains alert” to acquisition opportunities which might arise as a consequence of the tough market conditions.
He said the board decided to pursue longer term initiatives, despite the expectation that markets will “continue to lack direction” over the short term.
According to the results, the company’s fee income stood at £37.7m, up from £34.8m reported over the same period last year. This 8.3 per cent increase was partly reflected by the tariff changes made in 2015, Mr Nicholls said.
Rathbones saw income through commission decline by 31.9 per cent year on year, hitting £9.8m at the end of March, due to the continuing trend towards higher quality fee-based income.
Overall, the firm has seen a modest boost in its funds under management, reaching £29.3bn at the end of the first quarter, up 1.4 per cent from £28.9bn a year ago.
However, it continued to see outflows in its investment management division, falling by £382m for the first three months of 2016, after seeing outflows of £414m the previous year.
Mr Nicholls said volatile investment markets have “presented challenges”, reflected both in commission income and new business inflows for the first three months of 2016.
katherine.denham@ft.com
