Azets signals wealth management intent in Yorkshire

Top ten UK accountancy and advisory firm Azets has launched ambitious plans to break into the wealth management market in Yorkshire.

It has recruited experienced financial planners to lead the new service from its three offices in Leeds, Bradford and York for private clients and business owners across the whole of the county.

The firm will also draw on inhouse support nationally and leverage many years of financial planning expertise, especially in the north east and Scotland.

Azets aims to grow a significant wealth management and financial planning business through organic growth and a targeted acquisition strategy.

Leading the team are experienced financial planner Matt Knott, who recently joined the firm, in the Bradford office, chartered financial planner Tom Lester in Leeds and partner and Yorkshire head of wealth management Andy Kilby in York.

Andy said: “We have ambitions to build a market-leading wealth management and financial planning hub that understands Yorkshire and is tailored entirely to its needs.

“Although it is a new service for clients in Yorkshire, it is not a new service line for Azets where we have a great depth of financial planning experience which we wish to bring to the county.

“The new service will complement our already well-established private client offering and allow us to provide a joined-up and complementary approach with colleagues in our private client tax team.”

The wealth management sector manages £1.65 trillion in private savings and investments while employing more than 63,000 people, according to the Personal Investment Management & Financial Advice Association (PIMFA) trade body.

Azets’ personalised wealth management solutions include bespoke financial planning, investment advice, retirement planning, estate protection, business protection planning and employee benefits.

Azets aims to target firms in the £2.5m to £6m turnover bracket for acquisition. Its growth strategy is also built on an ethos to make the firm attractive to clients and potential acquisition targets alike.

Andy said: “Our starting point is to understand what our client’s goals are and what they want to achieve.

“Then, we devise a bespoke financial plan which will likely incorporate solutions, such as retirement planning, investment planning for growth or income, or estate protection, along with input from our private client tax team where appropriate.

“Clearly, many of our clients are in business. Being part of an accountancy practice gives us significant experience of advising business owners around both their business and personal planning.

“We look at the individual behind the business while ensuring that aligns with what they are doing with their company.”

Mark Parkinson, who is Azets wealth management chief executive officer, added: “We are totally independently owned and independent in terms of our regulatory status.

“We purely focus on the best advice for our client with solutions from whole of market. We are totally independent with no links to any bank, investment providers or insurance companies.

“We hope that this will make us more attractive as an acquirer as we are not simply trying to boost our investment portfolio or gain users for a particular platform.

“Those firms with a loyal client base and a strong culture may well see the benefit and value in aligning with us where we can offer the security and expertise of a top 10 national practice combined with a regional focus.”

Azets is a top 10 UK accountancy and business advisory firm and the largest regional business advisor to SMEs in the UK, delivering accounting, tax, audit, business and advisory services in the UK and internationally.

It employs 335 people across its three offices in Yorkshire in Leeds, Bradford and York.