6: Charles Stanley Group
Charles Stanley climbed towards the top of FTAdviser’s Top 100 Financial Advisers list this year – a significant improvement on last year, when it did not make it into the Top 100.
Coming in at number six is therefore a big breakthrough for the company.
Charles Stanley’s assets under management grew to £24.4bn, representing a 1.2 per cent increase since March 31 2019, according to data by Matrix Solutions.
The company also increased its number of financial advisers by seven to 29.
In April this year, Charles Stanley acquired Leeds-based discretionary investment management company Myddleton Croft, adding £96.5m to the wealth manager’s funds and strengthening the company’s presence in Yorkshire and the North East.
John Porteous, head of distribution at Charles Stanley, says: “We have been working hard over the last year to enhance how we work with advisers.”
He adds: “In an ever-evolving regulatory landscape, we are constantly looking at ways to add value by helping advisers to mitigate business and regulatory risk.”
Charles Stanley provided educational and informative events by producing 235 articles and 35 interactive educational seminars, including CPD, around the country.
It also expanded its specialist intermediaries support team and network, including two experienced specialists to help distribute its model portfolio service.
Director of Financial Planning, Andrew Meigh said: “2019 has been a year of great progress as we have seen our financial planning capabilities grow exponentially, whilst maintaining an unwavering commitment to providing clients with the very best financial planning advice.
"We have significantly increased the number of financial planners as well as growing our regional footprint, strengthening Charles Stanley’s financial planning capabilities in major regional hubs such as Oxford, Manchester and Birmingham. The last 12 months has also seen the addition of three new offices giving us a presence in Belfast for the first time, as well as Glasgow and Aberdeen."
7: Progeny Wealth
Progeny Wealth has completed three acquisitions of financial planning companies in 2019 and is due to announce a fourth.
Coming in at seventh place, Progeny Wealth is a new entrant to the Top 100 list.
In February 2019, Progeny Wealth acquired financial planning companies Quest Financial Solutions and Juno Wealth Management.
Prior to that, it acquired Innovate Financial Planning in Edinburgh.
According to the data from Matrix Solutions, Progeny Wealth had AUM of £800m in 2019.
Progeny Tax was launched in October.
Neil Moles, chief executive of Progeny, says Progeny Tax sits alongside Progeny Wealth, Progeny Law, Progeny Private Law and Progeny Asset Management to provide a “unique proposition”.
He adds: “Quest and Juno took [our] AUM to over £1.5bn, and we will reach around £2bn before the year end. However, our organic growth is just as important to us and has also had a large impact on AUM this year.”
