WH Ireland has hired Michael Bishop as head of wealth management to grow its DFM to more than £3bn in assets.
Bishop, who joins with immediate effect, has significant experience of building and running wealth management businesses, having previously been a senior member of UBS’s wealth management business for more than 20 years.
He started his wealth management career as a founding employee of UBS’s UK domestic wealth management business in 2000. Having grown UBS’s business in the UK, he spent two years in Switzerland integrating the teams covering origination, investment and client relationships across the UK business.
He then developed an institutional family office business while being responsible for UBS’s ultra high net worth teams across Northern Europe.
In his new role, Bishop will lead the division’s development with the stated ambition to manage at least £3bn of discretionary funds under management at a 20 per cent margin.
Bishop said: “I am delighted to be joining WH Ireland at this opportune time; the team has made real progress in establishing a platform for growth and in developing a discretionary wealth management proposition that is now delivering strong inflows.
“However, there remains much work to do, particularly as we focus on accelerating our path to sustainable growth and profitability, and in time to exceed our current targets, supported by a strengthened financial position to underpin organic and acquisition investment.”
He added: “There is an exciting opportunity to continue the development of a genuinely differentiated wealth management business at WH Ireland and I am looking forward to working with the team to do just that.”
Bishop will take over from Stephen Ford, who is stepping down to pursue other opportunities.
Ford will remain a director with WH Ireland until January 31 to ensure a smooth transition.
He said: “I am proud of what has been achieved within wealth management over the past three years and I am extremely grateful for all the support I have received from within the business during that time.
“However, now is the right moment for me to step down as I focus more of my time on my family as we relocate to Devon. I wish the firm all good fortune and will watch with interest as it achieves its ambitious growth plans”.
WH Ireland said Bishop’s combination of business building, both organically and through acquisition, “coupled with his experience in creating attractive client propositions”, means he is a “strong fit” for the company as it builds on the progress it has made over the last few years.
Phillip Wale, chief executive of WH Ireland, said: “Michael brings with him great experience and expertise that matches our requirements as we build on Stephen’s work. We have grown discretionary assets under management significantly, successfully completed our first acquisition and are strengthening our customer proposition to create real differentiation.
“His time at UBS across a number of different disciplines has given Michael a strong understanding of client needs, and we look forward to leveraging that expertise as we further enhance and differentiate our proposition of high quality capabilities, product and service based around best in class wealth planning.”
Wale added: “We expect Michael’s appointment to enable us to make further progress towards delivering our ambition to manage at least £3bn of discretionary funds under management.
“I would also like to thank Stephen Ford for his significant contribution to the turnaround at WH Ireland, having made great strides in reducing risk whilst establishing a robust platform on which to grow. He should be proud of what he has helped to achieve and WH Ireland is very grateful to him for his invaluable contribution to this phase of its development.”
In the six months to the end of September 2021, the wealth management division lost £166,000 on an adjusted basis, down from £456,000 in the same period the previous year on a like for like basis.
As recently as the 2018-19 financial year, the division lost £6m, which is when Steve Ford was hired to turn it around.
At the time, Ford said the firm was now focused on buying firms which have assets under management of less than £1bn.
sonia.rach@ft.com
What do you think about the issues raised by this story? Email us on FTAletters@ft.com to let us know
