Regan joins from UK digital insurer BGLi where he was CFO for three years.
Prior to this, he spent almost 10 years at the Royal Bank of Scotland where he held the role of finance director for RBS’s private banking franchise, Coutts.
He has experience specifically in mergers and acquisitions, driving business transformation and developing high performing finance teams.
Regan will begin the new role from September 12, taking over from Nucleus CFO Stuart Geard and James Hay CFO Gavin Howard, who have held the role for 10 and five years respectively.
Regan said: “Nucleus has all the ingredients in place and it’s highly motivating to be joining at this pivotal time for the company. I look forward to working with everyone and helping to steer the business through its next phase of growth as we continue to invest in the platform and build scale."
Regan is a chartered accountant by profession, beginning his career at PwC, and later held senior positions at financial giants UBS, HSBC and European commercial bank West LB.
Nucleus chief executive officer Richard Rowney, said: “Mike brings two decades of experience in the financial services sector and will be instrumental in helping us continue to build scale and invest in product, service and price to capture the significant opportunity in the platform market.
“This is an exciting time in Nucleus’s evolution, and I look forward to having Mike in my team as we build the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform.”
Nucleus said both Geard and Howard will stay with the firm for some time to assist Regan with “a seamless handover of responsibilities”.
Geard said: “I’m very proud to have played a small part in growing Nucleus from an Edinburgh start-up to where it is today, whilst at the same time maintaining the energy of a small company and the desire to put advisers and their clients centre-stage in everything we do.
“I’ve been on the Nucleus journey since the early days of Sanlam’s ownership and it’s been immensely fulfilling, but I feel now is the right time for me to step aside and consider where I should focus my energies next.”
Likewise Howard said it has been a “privilege” to work with Nucleus over the past five years.
“It really is the people that set our business apart and I have no intention of becoming a stranger. I’m delighted to be handing over to Mike and am confident that he has the experience and track record to help write the next chapter. It’s an exciting time for Nucleus and I will be cheering the team on from the side-lines.”
Earlier this year, HPS Investment Partners bought a majority stake in Nucleus for an undisclosed amount - less than a year after it was bought by private equity-backed James Hay.
Nucleus confirmed HPS was now a majority shareholder and that its existing shareholder Epiris - James Hay's parent company - would retain a "significant minority stake".
In May, Nucleus accused rival platform Novia of “aggressively” recruiting its staff after it lost four employees to the company over a 12-month period.
In June, Nucleus said farewell to 10 senior employees as the business looked to fill a further 30 roles by year end.
Since the platform’s change in ownership, Nucleus’ strategy has been to focus on achieving scale with Rowney saying a bigger platform will be able to offer a better service to advisers.
The company has also focused on the FNZ migration of James Hay clients - with Nucleus clients to eventually follow.
sonia.rach@ft.com
