Hurst Point MD: ‘I wanted to act like a big IFA before we got there’

Speaking to FTAdviser, John White, managing director of Hurst Point’s financial planning division Argentis, said upon taking on his new role, he looked to ensure the business knew what the client wants as opposed to what the adviser thinks the client wants.

He said the group put in propositional changes last October and has been operating with these for six months. 

Last week, Hurst Point Group, which is a subsidiary of private equity parent Carlyle, bought wealth manager Helm Godfrey in a deal which will see it add £1bn of assets under advice and £0.5bn of assets under management to the firm.

This came after last July when the group announced that it had bought Metis Wealth and Metis Asset Management.

White said every deal is being done to the same propositions. 

“Some of the interesting things are the platform due diligence - of whether we're doing enough to make sure that we've asked the right questions,” he said. 

“There is a level of bringing in external compliance type consultants to check you are doing the right things but again, they're in the same boat.”

White explained that he is trying to concentrate on the client and argued the key bits to this is asking the clients what they want.

“The positive of the consumer duty is that it is forcing our businesses to actually go and ask the clients what they want. 

 There is an element of selling your soul to the devil, at any level. It's just because of how good or bad the devil is.

“The focus group really is the client surveys. Most firms do a level of client survey but the focus group stuff tends to be for the big IFAs or has been in the past. 

“You find out all sorts about what you think is important to the client.”

He argued that often, businesses rely on what the adviser thinks is important for the client, which can be different to what the client wants.

“For me, that's actually the time that I want to spend the most time on,” he said. 

“When I joined, I appointed Natalie Kempster to be head of clients because I wanted to put that kind of perspective in there. 

“I knew that was something that some of the bigger IFA businesses did and I wanted to act like a big one before we got there.” 

Selling your soul

White is a lifelong financial planner and has spent 20 years working for financial services and accountancy practices.

“That's been my bread and butter through the years,” he said.

Having worked across America and South Africa as a financial planner, he said one of the reasons for taking on the role as managing director at Hurst Point Group was because there weren't many peers in the industry that had a similar background. 

“I am a financial planner and actually what I've suddenly realised is that's actually not that common amongst my peers in the PE-backed world,” he said.

“They come from C-suite type backgrounds or whatever else, which is obviously equally as important, and I've had to learn that through my career in the later stages, but I do approach everything from the viewpoint of giving financial advice. 

“That's the one constant and so I was never going to join anywhere that would be an aggregator that would just buy businesses and keep them where they were.”

White explained that he always wanted to become a true national IFA so all the acquisitions that the group makes are businesses that fully understand they are going to be part of a wider business.

“They are not going to be able to continue to do things the way that they were doing before, and that is making sure that there's enough similarities in how they do things to how we do them,” he said. 

“This is so it doesn't become too difficult at a future date while everybody's in courting mode, where the seller wants the money and they’re thinking ‘I'm sure I can cope with all of that’.

“But can they really because there is an element of selling your soul to the devil, at any level. It's just how good or bad the devil is.”

Location is key

White said the group’s plan is to get to £10bn by the end of the year, however he said the firm is not just buying anything to get to the size.

“If I've got £10bn rather than £8bn, it's just a quality buy,” he said. 

“It’s important because there are two schools of thought in PE of whether you've got to spend all you’ve got or whether it's actually making the most money you've spent. It's definitely the latter with us.”

He said that the group would look at strategic deals from a viewpoint of getting regional hubs where they think it's important to be. 

“Last year we acquired Harrogate and we've got places like the Midlands and the North West key to future growth as opposed to just adding more clients anywhere.”

White said it is certainly possible that the group could complete another deal before the end of the year, but he explained that the existing acquisitions are of a size that it's really important to make sure they are fully integrated.

“So concentration will go into that while we bring them into the pipeline,” he added.

sonia.rach@ft.com

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