Nucleus Financial Platforms (Nucleus), one of the UK’s leading independent adviser platforms, is pleased to announce that its acquisition of the Curtis Banks Group (Curtis Banks) has received all necessary regulatory approvals.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), and Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) have all issued their approvals, and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has concluded that the transaction does not qualify for investigation under UK merger control law.

Bringing together Nucleus and Curtis Banks will create a leading retirement-focused adviser platform with approximately £80 billion of assets under administration, helping nearly 5,000 advisers make retirement more rewarding for almost 250,000 customers.

The combination of Curtis Banks’ award-winning SIPP and SSAS product offering, and strong presence as a provider to customers with complex retirement needs along with Nucleus’ established reputation in the UK platform market will create a comprehensive proposition to support financial advisers and their customers across the full wealth spectrum.

In a market where scale is increasingly important, this transformational deal will enable further investments in technology, people, products, price and service for the benefit of advisers and their customers. For the immediate future both businesses will continue to operate independently and there will be no immediate change for advisers or clients of either business.

Peter Docherty, currently Interim CEO of Curtis Banks, will continue to lead the Curtis Banks business reporting to Richard Rowney, Group CEO of Nucleus. It is expected that in time, Curtis Banks will be rebranded as Nucleus.

Richard Rowney, CEO of Nucleus, said: “We are pleased to have now received regulatory approval, and look forward to completing this transformational deal in the coming weeks. We’ll then start working closely with our new colleagues at Curtis Banks to bring together our businesses and provide a best-in-class service to the advisers we serve.

“We’re creating one of the largest adviser platform groups in the UK with assets under administration of c.£80bn. Curtis Banks will be an important part of our group, bringing award-winning SIPP and SSAS offerings, which will help us in our purpose of helping make retirement more rewarding.”

Peter Docherty, Interim CEO of Curtis Banks, said: “Receiving regulatory approval is a key milestone in the acquisition process. Once the transaction completes we can start to bring our businesses together in a considered, mindful and practical way, ensuring we have the best combination of technologies, operations and structure that can deliver the group’s strategy.”

The acquisition was approved by Curtis Banks shareholders in February and remains subject to a court sanction hearing. It is expected to complete in the coming weeks.

You can download a PDF of the press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

TB Cardew (Financial PR advisers): 
Tom Allison / Shan Shan Willenbrock
E: nucleus@tbcardew.com
T: +44 (0)7789 998020 / +44 (0)7775 848537

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.

Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.

Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.

Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £44 billion* in assets under administration.

About Curtis Banks

Curtis Banks administers self-invested pension products, principally SIPPs and SSASs. The Group commenced trading in 2009 and has successfully developed, through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions, into one of the largest UK providers of these products.

* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q2 2023

Nucleus Foundation has partnered with the Verve Foundation to fund and support an initial cohort of 10 women to join the We Are Change programme.

The programme is designed to provide training and qualifications support to those looking to start a career in financial advice.

The grant from the Nucleus Foundation will allow the Verve Foundation to launch a programme targeted specifically at women for the first time.

The support from the Nucleus Foundation will provide the entire cohort of women with the funding required to achieve their Level 4 CII Diploma in regulated financial planning.

The Nucleus Foundation was launched at the start of the year with £750k of initial funding. One of its key areas of focus is to encourage more women into financial advice careers working alongside organisations who are committed to increasing diversity within the sector.

Despite positive steps forward in recent years, the financial advice industry continues to see a stark difference in the number of women entering the profession. According to the most recent data from the FCA only 16% of regulated financial advisers in the UK are women. That’s why this initiative is so important as it is will help attract and train more women to consider a career in financial advice which ultimately will help increase access to qualified female financial advisers.

Richard Rowney, CEO of Nucleus and Nucleus Foundation Trustee, said: “We’re proud that the Foundation’s first major investment is centred on encouraging more women to become advisers. We greatly respect the work of the Verve Foundation and are pleased to be able to partner with them to play our part in tackling the diversity gap in the advice sector.

“This is one of the first grants the Nucleus Foundation has made and it clearly demonstrates the positive contribution and impact we want to make. I can’t think of a better way of using our resources to bring about this much needed change, and help train the next generation of financial advisers.”

Hayley Rabbets, Head of the Verve Foundation, said: “We’re delighted to have the support from the Nucleus Foundation to launch an exclusive We Are Change cohort specifically designed to help support more women into the industry.

“Anything the sector can do to break down barriers and make the industry a more diverse, inclusive and welcoming place to be is to be celebrated. So, to have the support of the Nucleus Foundation, whose aims and values so closely align with our own, is really exciting.”

For more information on the We Are Change programme and the application process please go to the Verve Foundation website.

You can download a PDF of the press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.

Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.

Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.

Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £44 billion* in assets under administration.

The Verve Foundation: We Are Change

Originally launched in 2021 to help those who became unemployed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, The Verve Foundation’s We Are Change initiative continues to attract people from outside the industry, supporting them throughout their journey into a range of roles.

The initiative works by attracting those who would love a career in finance but who would otherwise struggle to get a foot through the door. It then sets them away with fully funded qualifications, to enhance their appeal to prospective employers, and also provides practical skills and training, to help them identify the financial services segment that is best matched to them.

Success for us is helping them secure a role, anywhere in finance, as this means more talent, more ideas and more interest in an industry that has hitherto struggled to attract the attention we believe it deserves.

* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q2 2023

Nucleus Financial Platforms, one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, has significantly revamped its cash panel on the James Hay platform in partnership with Bondsmith.

This new service goes live on 26 July and provides access to an increased range of competitive fixed term deposit and notice accounts from a wider selection of banks with more banks expected to be added in the coming months.

Terms from six months to five years are available and there’s also a reduced minimum deposit of between £1k and £10k depending on the bank (reduced from £25k).

There are currently 26 different account options up from the three that were previously available, providing greater flexibility and enabling more customers to take advantage of the higher interest rates on offer.

Chris Williams, Proposition Director at Nucleus, said: “Our James Hay platform pays an attractive rate of interest on the transactional cash that customers have in their products. But at a time of uncertain markets, high inflation and an increasing Bank of England base rate, some are looking to lock their cash away for longer periods of time in exchange for higher investment-style returns.

“This is exactly what we’re providing with our enhanced cash panel with Bondsmith. We’re giving advisers the ability to recommend these new products to their customers, offering leading returns on cash from a wide selection of banks to make their cash work harder.

“As we build scale, we continue to invest in the priorities of advisers to help them deliver better outcomes for their clients and ultimately help to make their retirement more rewarding.”

Tom Higham, Managing Director of Savings at Bondsmith, added: “We are delighted to be working with Nucleus to enable advisers using the James Hay platform to help customers maximise the interest they can earn on their cash. Through Bondsmith, customers are able to access an increasingly wide range of savings accounts from UK banks.

“And with interest rates on savings products at their highest level for over a decade, we’re proud to be able to help more clients improve the returns on their cash in this environment."

You can download a PDF of the press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.

Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.

Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.

Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £44 billion* in assets under administration.

To find out more visit: www.nucleusfinancialplatforms.com   

About Bondsmith

Bondsmith is an FCA regulated financial technology company that empowers clients to make the most of their cash by delivering innovate savings solutions.

* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q1 2023

Nucleus Financial Platforms, one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, has appointed Laura Green as Commercial Delivery Director. Laura will report to Chief Commercial Officer Alex Kovach.

In this newly created role, Laura will be responsible for leading the delivery of Nucleus’ commercial activities. She’ll have a particular focus on helping to develop a market leading proposition and will work with front-line teams to deliver an adviser experience that exceeds expectations.

Nucleus’ vision is to be the best loved platform for advisers, and as it transforms into one of the scale leaders in the sector, it is delighted to be able to attract colleagues of Laura’s calibre to join the business.

Laura is a highly experienced professional, with more than 17 years’ experience in financial services and has a strong track record in leading high performing teams to support the delivery of strategy and innovation.

She joins Nucleus this week after seven years at NatWest Group as Managing Director of Strategy for Coutts, and she was also a member of the Wealth Business Executive Committee. Prior to this she worked at Deutsche Bank, Barclays’ Wealth and Investment Management division, and a Management Consultant in Accenture’s strategy practice.

Alex Kovach, Nucleus’ Chief Commercial Officer, said: “We’re excited to welcome Laura and her extensive knowledge and experience of wealth management to this newly created position. As we continue to invest in the priorities of advisers to help them deliver better outcomes for their clients, she’ll play a crucial role at this exciting time of growth for our business.”

Laura Green, Commercial Delivery Director, said: “Nucleus is a business I admire, not only for its strategy and growth trajectory, but also for the way it’s using its scale to invest in building the best retirement platform for advisers. I’m looking forward to working with the team to build on the success they’ve achieved to date, and to play my part through the next phase of growing the business.”

You can download a PDF of the press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.

Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.

Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.

Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £44 billion* in assets under administration.

* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q1 2023

James Hay, part of Nucleus Financial Platforms, one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups has partnered with data tech provider Origo on its Unipass Letter of Authority (ULoA) service.

A paper from consultancy the lang cat in Q3 2022 shone a light on poor processes. One of the headline findings, and one that advice professionals were most frustrated with, was that letters of authority took far too long to process and were a major cause of concern.

The Unipass service, which will be live on the James Hay platform on 3 July will significantly improve the Letter of Authority process for both advisers and their clients. Using the service, the entire Letter of Authority process will be completed in a fraction of the time it takes currently. It also allows advisers to track the process from start to finish, allowing them to keep the client fully informed as well as providing a higher level of security and GDPR compliance.

Steve Knight, Customer and Business Operations Director at Nucleus, said: “As a platform our main purpose is to help improve the adviser experience and we are constantly looking for ways to invest in and improve adviser interactions. This is a fantastic example of how we can do this. Origo’s digitised solution transforms the current process, providing a faster more client friendly service which in turn allows advisers to spend their time on more value-add support for their clients. We’re working on bringing the same efficiency to the Nucleus platform soon.”

Anthony Rafferty, CEO at Origo, said: “We are delighted to welcome Nucleus with its James Hay platform as a user of Unipass Letter of Authority. This is a service that financial advisers have had at the top of their wish list for a number of years as a key way to improve their onboarding service, as evidenced in two comprehensive reports from the lang cat*, where the current process was highlighted as a major source of frustration for advice firms and their clients.

“With Consumer Duty requiring companies to look at every aspect of their business to ensure good outcomes for consumer’s and avoid foreseeable harm, providers are quickly realising the benefits Unipass Letter of Authority delivers for them, advice firms and the end client. We expect to see more companies turn to technology to help them address the pain points in their processes and to ensure their service levels deliver against the new rules.”

You can download a PDF of the press release here


For further information please contact:

For James Hay:
Linda Harper
Nucleus Press Office
07876 145 309

For Origo:
Rob Kingsbury
KGR Media Services
07900 931 305

* Source: Papers from the lang cat - A Disconnected World: The Adviser’s Reality, and A Fragmented World

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.

Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.

Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.

Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £44 billion** in assets under administration.

** Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q1 2023

Nucleus Financial Platforms, one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, has appointed Craig Metcalf to its sales team in a newly created role as Strategic Account Director. He will report into Paul Bagley, Nucleus’ Distribution Director.

He’s the second new senior hire into Nucleus’ sales team in the last two months following the appointment of Laura Barnes as Director of Business Development.

Craig is an experienced sales leader with unrivalled experience working in both investment management and distribution over the last 20+ years. He joins from Canada Life Asset Management where he was Head of Strategic Alliances responsible for leading the advisory distribution team. Prior to this he spent 5 years at Aberdeen Standard Investments as 3rd Party & Major Distribution Director and has also held senior roles at AXA Elevate and Cofunds Ltd.

Craig originally moved to the UK from Canada in 1998 as a professional ice hockey player playing for Chelmsford Chieftains in the English Premier Hockey League.

Paul Bagley, Nucleus’ Distribution Director, said: “I’m delighted that we’ve been able to attract someone of Craig’s calibre to our sales team. He has a proven track record in managing key relationships to ensure the adviser view is central to strategic thinking and development, so he’ll be a great addition to my team.

“Our ambition is to grow so we have the scale and profitability to continue investing in our products, service and price. Key to this is the ability to recruit the right talent. Craig’s experience of working closely with advisers will help guide us to invest in what’s important to them, so together we can help their clients have a more rewarding retirement.”

Craig Metcalf, Nucleus’ Strategic Account Director, said: “Joining Nucleus was an easy decision, and a really important step in my career, at this exciting time in its journey. The business is growing at pace and building scale and is clearly committed to building a market leading retirement-focused platform. I’m looking forward to getting my sleeves rolled up and working with Nucleus’ strong adviser base to ensure great outcomes for their clients.”

You can download a PDF of the press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.

Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.

Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.

Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £44 billion* in assets under administration.

* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q1 2023

Nucleus has created an online hub to help prepare and support planners and advisers ahead of the launch of Consumer Duty next month. The Consumer Duty hub provides a wealth of topical and relevant information to help them understand how Consumer Duty impacts their firm, and how to identify the areas needing attention.

The hub includes target market statements for the James Hay and Nucleus Wrap platforms as well as fair value assessments for the products available via these platforms. There are also guides, recaps of rules and checklists to help advisers and planners meet their Consumer Duty requirements.

As part of this initiative, Nucleus has partnered with The Verve Group to host a series of eight webinars about Consumer Duty. These have been tailored to help the advice profession understand what it needs to do to be compliant with the new rules.

Paul Bagley, Distribution Director for Nucleus said: “We’re delighted to team up with The Verve Group to offer a series of webinars to help advisers and planners understand what the new rules involve and make sure they’re ready for the new regulations coming in. We hope the hub together with the webinars provide a helpful one stop shop for all things Consumer Duty related”.

Christian Markwick, Head of Adviser Support from the Verve Group who will be leading the webinars said: “There are eight webinars lasting an hour each and all are CPD accredited. They have been designed specifically to be helpful for advisers and planners and include all the information they need to know to adapt their business to be ready and compliant and more importantly, to show how they can evidence that they’re on top of all things related to Consumer Duty”.

The webinars are available on the Consumer Duty hub and cover a range of subjects to support advisers with everything they need to be Consumer Duty ready. Four of the webinars have already taken place, however they are available on demand for those who register.

The first four sessions available on demand include:

• Reviewing your Consumer Duty plan and ensuring you have set realistic timetables

• Proposition plus Product Intervention and Product Governance Sourcebook (PROD)

• Looking at Fair Value Assessment

• Does your Central Investment/Retirement Proposition match the ‘house’ philosophy?

The next four sessions will cover:

Thursday 1 June 2023
10:30am – 11:30am
Platform Due Diligence (PDD) – does your platform deliver?

Tuesday 20 June 2023
10:30am – 11:30am
Consumer understanding – review and refresh client communications

Tuesday 18 July 2023
10:30am – 11:30am
How to test and evidence consumer understanding, linked to terms and conditions

Tuesday 15 August 2023
10:30am – 11:30am
How to test and monitor outcomes to ensure you’re consistently staying compliant

You can download a PDF of the Press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.

Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.

Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.

Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £43.5 billion* in assets under administration.

* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q4 2022

Strong progress against strategy, with profit enabling investment in product, service and price.

Nucleus Financial Platforms Ltd, one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, is today announcing results for the year to 31 December 2022.

It benefitted from a first full year of contribution from both the Nucleus Wrap and James Hay platforms. These strong results demonstrate progress against the strategy of building scale, growing profitability and ongoing investment in products, service and price.

Financial highlights

• Revenue was up 80% to £114.5 million (2021: £63.6m) with costs, excluding exceptional cost, only increasing by 20%.

• Adjusted profit, which excludes exceptional/one-off costs, was up to £47.7 million (2021: £7.9m).

• Profit before tax was up to £25.4m (2021 £24m loss).

• Administrative expenses increased from £66.7m to £81m, reflecting the Nucleus Financial plc acquisition. However, cost savings achieved through the outsourcing of IT and operations to FNZ helped offset the cost increases.

• Net flows for on-sale products were positive in the year at £169m. 

Richard Rowney, CEO of Nucleus, said: “This has been a year of significant progress for the group. In the first full year of trading since we joined together Nucleus Financial plc and James Hay Partnership, the numbers we’re reporting today show the benefits of our combined scale are starting to deliver.

“Looking ahead, we’re excited about the prospect of continuing to invest in our products, service and price, enabling us to deliver great financial outcomes for our customers and ultimately helping make their retirement more rewarding.”

Strategic highlights

2022 was a year of good momentum as our strategy to build scale began to deliver results. The progress we’ve made has ensured we’re well placed to continue our journey to create the UK’s leading retirement focused adviser platform, via organic and acquisitive growth.

• James Hay and Nucleus businesses are now fully integrated under a single management structure and new brand.

• Since James Hay’s acquisition of Nucleus in 2021, we have invested £4.5 million in improving service, and £12.6 million in technology and transformation, as well as making good progress in the development of a new, leading retirement platform. 

• The group’s strong financial backing was further strengthened as HPS Investment Partners was welcomed as the new majority shareholder, alongside existing shareholder Epiris. 

• We have continued to invest in our people bolstering our board strength with the appointment of Gordon Wilson as the new chair, and two new non-executive directors.  We have strengthened our senior leadership team adding expertise in managing acquisitions, integration, outsourcing technology and replatforming. We also welcomed 130 new colleagues to the group last year.

• The Nucleus Foundation was established, a registered charity operated by Nucleus with appointed trustees, with £750k of initial funding to provide support to organisations and individuals across the UK. 

• In January 2023, we announced the recommended offer for Curtis Banks Group plc, to be effected by means of a scheme of arrangement which was approved by its shareholders in February 2023. The acquisition is expected to complete in Q3 2023, subject to regulatory approvals. 

Outlook

The long-term outlook for the sector remains positive with the demand for financial advice remaining as strong as ever. We are well-positioned for growth and have the scale and financial strength to take on the challenges in front of us, while continuing to invest for the benefit of the advisers who have chosen to partner with us, their clients, as well as our people.

2023 is shaping up to be another pivotal and exciting year. It will see us bring together Nucleus and Curtis Banks to create a leading retirement-focused adviser platform group with approximately £80 billion of assets under administration.

You can download a PDF of the Press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.

Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.

Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.

Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £43.5 billion* in assets under administration.

* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q4 2022

Nucleus Financial Platforms, one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, announces that Heather Hopkins has been appointed as chair of its Advisory Board. And in a move to become more representative of the group’s wider user base, its remit has been expanded to also include advisers using the James Hay platform.

Heather is Managing Director and Founder of NextWealth, a specialist consultancy that helps individuals and organisations with a stake in the future of financial advice understand what’s next in wealth. In a career spanning Toronto, Boston, Tokyo and London, she’s gained a strong reputation as a data and research expert, specialising in the UK financial adviser and retail wealth management markets.

As chair, Heather will work closely with Nucleus CEO Richard Rowney and Chief Commercial Officer Alex Kovach to ensure effective engagement among the cross-section group of twelve advice firms.

For many years the Advisory Board has played a crucial role in helping the Nucleus executive team make key strategic and propositional decisions. It’s also a valuable forum for airing and debating the many issues affecting advice firms today, from regulatory and technological, to general practice management.

Heather Hopkins, Chair of the Nucleus Advisory Board said: “I’ve long admired Nucleus’ approach to involving advisers in its strategic thinking via this board, and I’m now pleased to have been asked to play an active part in it. It’s vital platforms deeply understand both the views of advisers on the market and what they need from their partners, along with what specifically the Nucleus group can do to support them. I look forward to chairing the board and helping Nucleus better understand the needs of its adviser customers.”

Richard Rowney, Nucleus CEO added: “We’ve run the Advisory Board since inception over sixteen years ago, and over that period it’s played a pivotal role in helping our team understand what’s important to advisers, shaping the platform’s strategic direction and the development of the proposition. We’re delighted that Heather has agreed to be the first independent chair, as she brings extensive commercial, regulatory and sector knowledge, which will be so useful to us all.

“I have no doubt she’ll be a strong chair and will help ensure we focus on the topics our users care deeply about, ultimately ensuring we’re both delivering great outcomes for their clients.”

You can download a PDF of the Press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.

Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.

Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.

Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £43.5 billion* in assets under administration.

* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q4 2022

In its third senior hire this month, Nucleus Financial Platforms, one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, has appointed Laura Barnes as Director of Business Development.

This is a newly created role, reporting into Paul Bagley, Nucleus’ Distribution Director. Laura starts with Nucleus on 2 May.

Laura is a highly experienced industry platform professional, with over 25 years’ experience in financial services and a strong track record in leading sales and distribution teams.  

She joins from Parmenion, where she was Head of Intermediary Distribution for almost three years with responsibility for sales strategy and growth. Prior to that she held senior sales management roles at Aegon, Cofunds and Axa Group.

Paul Bagley, Nucleus Distribution Director said: “It’s a coup for us to hire someone of Laura’s ability into this newly created role.  She’s a great fit for our team, bolstering our sales leadership and providing us with even greater firepower as we invest in building the leading retirement focused adviser platform in the UK. 

“She’s well known and respected across the industry, and her significant platform knowledge, experience in understanding advisers’ needs, and proven ability to develop and inspire high-performing teams, will help us keep our growth plans on track. 

Laura Barnes incoming Director of Business Development added: ‘I’m thrilled to be joining Nucleus at this exciting stage of its growth. This is an ambitious and innovative business with a clear strategy that’s clearly working as it transforms into one of the scale leaders in the sector.

“I’ve been incredibly impressed with the passion, innovation and commitment to financial advisers shown by Nucleus, and I’m very much looking forward to working with such a talented and professional team to deliver a great platform experience for advisers.” 

You can download a PDF of the Press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.

Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.

Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.

Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £43.5 billion* in assets under administration.

* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q4 2022