Nucleus Financial Platforms Group (“Nucleus” or “the Group”) one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, has appointed Mike Regan as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), subject to regulatory approval.

Mike will officially start and also join the board on 12 September. He will take over from Stuart Geard, CFO of Nucleus Financial and Gavin Howard, CFO of James Hay, who, having helped lead the businesses for 10 and 5 years respectively and steer them through the recent corporate transformation that created the present group, have taken the difficult decision that now is the right time to step aside and consider a new challenge.

Mike is an experienced board-level CFO with a track record of success in M&A, driving business transformation and developing high performing finance teams. He joins from UK digital insurer BGLi where he was Chief Financial Officer for three years.

Prior to this, he spent almost ten years at the Royal Bank of Scotland, and as part of this held the role of Finance Director for RBS’s Private Banking Franchise, Coutts.

A chartered accountant by profession, Mike has a breadth and depth of experience in the financial services sector, starting his career at PwC and later holding senior positions at financial giants UBS and HSBC and European commercial bank West LB.

Richard Rowney, Chief Executive Officer at Nucleus, said: “Mike brings two decades of experience in the financial services sector and will be instrumental in helping us continue to build scale and invest in product, service and price to capture the significant opportunity in the platform market. This is an exciting time in Nucleus’s evolution, and I look forward to having Mike in my team as we build the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform.

“On behalf of the Board, I would also like to sincerely thank Stuart and Gavin for their enormous contribution towards helping us get to the position we are at today, and for their continued professionalism and unwavering commitment to the business. They’ll remain for some time to assist Mike with a seamless handover of responsibilities and we truly wish them both the very best for the future.”

Mike Regan, incoming CFO of Nucleus, commented: “I’ve been extremely impressed by Richard and the calibre of the wider executive team at Nucleus, and in particular the ambition they have for the business - strongly backed by the shareholders. Nucleus has all the ingredients in place and it’s highly motivating to be joining at this pivotal time for the company.  I look forward to working with everyone and helping to steer the business through its next phase of growth as we continue to invest in the platform and build scale.“

Stuart Geard, current Chief Financial Officer of Nucleus Financial said: “I’m very proud to have played a small part in growing Nucleus from an Edinburgh start-up to where it is today, whilst at the same time maintaining the energy of a small company and the desire to put advisers and their clients centre-stage in everything we do. I’ve been on the Nucleus journey since the early days of Sanlam’s ownership and it’s been immensely fulfilling, but I feel now is the right time for me to step aside and consider where I should focus my energies next. I wish Richard, Mike and everyone at Nucleus every success and look forward to watching the business’s progress with pride.”

Gavin Howard, current Chief Financial Officer for James Hay added: “It’s been a privilege to be part of the success story that is Nucleus and to work with such a talented team over the last five years. It really is the people that set our business apart and I have no intention of becoming a stranger.  I’m delighted to be handing over to Mike and am confident that he has the experience and track record to help write the next chapter. It’s an exciting time for Nucleus and I will be cheering the team on from the sidelines.”

In August 2021 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) gave regulatory approval for James Hay to acquire Nucleus Financial. The Nucleus name is being used for the combined group and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £48bn* in assets under administration (AUA).

You can download a PDF of the Press release here

Enquiries:
    
Victoria Webb   
Head of Public Relations for Nucleus
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7712 551 838    

Notes to editors:

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 customer.

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 £48bn* in assets under administration.

Nucleus Financial Platforms Group (“Nucleus” or the “Group”) has appointed Fraser Smith as Head of Marketing - bolstering the business’ growing in-house marketing team.  

Based in Edinburgh, Fraser will report to Nucleus Marketing Director Stephen Wynne-Jones to support the ongoing integration of the James Hay and Nucleus Wrap platform propositions, roll out the combined Group’s new brand and website launch this summer, and deliver communications to advisers on the investment the group is making in products, service and price.

Fraser joins Nucleus after five years at Aegon, where he led the customer and adviser marketing teams. He was also instrumental in their digital transformation projects and the development of communications for the Cofunds platform migration. Prior to Aegon he was Head of Segment Marketing at RBS, and with a career spanning over 20 years has also held a succession of marketing and communications roles with Tesco Bank, Virgin Money and Sony.

Commenting on the appointment Alex Kovach, Chief Commercial Officer at Nucleus said: “Given the scale of our business, our project pipeline and ambitious growth plans, the role of marketing has never been more important. We’re delighted to have Fraser onboard, and his appointment significantly boosts our in-house capabilities, adding a wealth of experience and fresh perspective to our talented and growing team.”

In August 2021 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) gave regulatory approval for James Hay to acquire Nucleus Financial. The Nucleus name is being used for the combined group and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £48bn* in assets under administration.

You can download a PDF of the Press release here

Enquiries:
    
Victoria Webb   
Head of Public Relations for Nucleus
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7712 551 838    

Notes to editors:

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 customer.

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 £48bn* in assets under administration.

• HPS Investment Partners ("HPS"), through certain funds and/or accounts managed, advised or controlled by the Firm or its subsidiaries or affiliates, becomes majority investor alongside existing shareholder Epiris
• No change to strategy - will continue to use scale to invest in product, service and price
• New investment endorses strategy and management team

Nucleus, the fifth largest adviser platform group in the UK, is pleased to welcome HPS as a new majority shareholder, alongside existing shareholder Epiris which is retaining a significant minority stake.

HPS's investment is an endorsement of Nucleus' vision to build the leading retirement­ focused investment platform for financial advisers in the UK. The new investment will see no changes to Nucleus' business model or management team.

Since the creation of the enlarged group in 2021 over £5m has already been invested in service and £6m committed to platform development for 2022. Nucleus will continue to use its existing scale to further invest in products, service and price, underpinned by innovative technology, for the benefit of advisers and their clients.

Completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval. Financial terms are not being disclosed.

Nucleus CEO Richard Rowney said: "My whole team and I have really enjoyed working with Epiris to deliver the vision set out for this business in 2019. We're now delighted to welcome HPS as the new majority investor and look forward to working with both them and Epiris as we continue to progress our exciting vision. It has been obvious from an early stage that their ambition for the business and commitment to support me and my management team to grow the business meant we are all completely aligned.

While today's news will not result in any immediate practical change, it is certainly a vote of confidence, not just in our strategy, but also in our people - the 650 dedicated colleagues who make up our business, with a sole focus of supporting advisers, and helping them make retirement more rewarding for their clients.

We'll now continue our important work of ensuring the basics of platform provision are right; serving advisers properly, executing orders on behalf of their clients and ensuring the financial plans they've designed can be effectively delivered. At the same time we'll continue to share the benefits that come from economies of scale with our customers, investing in giving them better products, better service and better prices.
 

You can download a PDF of the Press release here.

For further information, contact:

TB Cordew
 
-    Tom Allison +44 (0) 7789 998020
-    Shan Willenbrock +44 (0) 7775 848537
 

The acquisition of Nucleus by James Hay has received regulatory approval and the offer has today gone wholly unconditional.

Combining the best of both companies will create a financial planning and retirement-focused platform with the scale to enable greater investment in products, price and service to meet the needs of advisers and their clients. It will offer a compelling blend of online technology and offline service that can compete at the winning end of the advised platform market.

With the transaction subject only to formalities, the combined group can now work collaboratively to address the changing needs of advisers and their clients, and determine the best combination of technologies, operations and people that can deliver the group’s strategy.

This is an exciting time in the platform sector and the combined group is set to thrive as it continues to develop a broader range of digital capability. The Nucleus and James Hay platforms will continue to operate independently for the foreseeable future while integration plans are developed. While this will be a complex exercise, the more immediate priorities are to ensure continuity of service and to deliver a roadmap of enhancements. Further details of the combined group’s development plans, including the future leadership structure will be announced in the coming months.

James Hay CEO Richard Rowney will lead the combined group. Commenting on achieving regulatory approval he said: “This deal creates one of the leading, independent, adviser platform groups in the UK with over £47 billion of AUA*. We see this as a coming together of the very best parts of both businesses, building on our retirement expertise and their digital capability to develop a service that truly meets the needs of advisers and their customers.”

David Ferguson, Nucleus founder, added: “Since 2006 we've always tried to do the right thing and put the customer centre stage. Actually meaning that has made us a little bit different from others in the sector but it also carried us to £19bn in AUA and led to this deal.

We have full respect for the challenges ahead and are energised by the goal of working with our new colleagues to create the UK’s most respected and successful adviser platform.”

*AUA as at 30 June 2021 (£28.3bn James Hay & £18.9bn Nucleus)

You can download a PDF of the Press release here.

For further information, contact:

TB Cardew 
-   Tom Allison +44 (0) 7789 998020
-   Shan Willenbrock +44 (0) 7775 848537