Lloyds Banking Group is reported to be in the market for 700 financial advisers as it prepares to launch its joint venture with Schroders.
Last year the two companies agreed to launch a financial planning business during the middle of 2019 with the ambition of becoming one of the top three such companies within the next five years.
FTAdviser's sister publication, the Financial Times, has reported that Lloyds is looking to hire 700 financial advisers and nearly double its assets under management from £13bn to £25bn.
The growth is expected to be mainly organic, coming largely from Lloyds's existing customer base, but acquisitions may also be in the pipeline.
In terms of the number of advisers, this would put the Lloyds/Schroders business ahead of Lighthouse, which has more than 400 advisers.
But it would still be some way off St James's Place, which has nearly 4,000, and Quilter, which has more than 2,200.
In terms of assets under management, it would make the Lloyds/Schroders business the fourth largest adviser in the UK, behind SJP, Hargreaves Lansdown and Quilter, according to Strategic Insight data used to compile the FTAdviser Top 100 list.
The joint venture is part of a wider deal between the companies, with Schroders taking over as manager of £80bn of Scottish Widows assets that had previously been managed by Aberdeen Asset Management.
Lloyds will transfer some £13bn of assets and its 300-odd advisers from its existing wealth management business to the joint venture.
The bank has previously offered financial advice, but stopped offering advice to clients with less than £100,000 to invest in 2012.
Schroders has been exposed to the UK financial advice market for some time through its investment in Benchmark Capital, in which the former has a 77 per cent shareholding. The Fusion Wealth platform, which is owned by Benchmark, will provide its technology to the new venture.
damian.fantato@ft.com
