If anything, the move means Quilter Cheviot is in a more stable environment, and has more opportunities. “When you join a new group, there is the meet and greet period. Then there is a period of finding ways to collaborate and work together, which is where we are now. We are beginning to find opportunities, but it is still at a relatively early stage.
“Everyone I have met at Old Mutual is nice to deal with and, because we are used to being in a large group, we also have a go-to attitude. It has the makings of something very successful.”
Crest of a wave
It also has the makings of something much bigger. According to Loudon, while Old Mutual bought Quilter Cheviot to act as its discretionary investment manager, both firms expect the industry trend toward consolidation to continue, driven as it is by cost pressures and regulation.
“Under the brief I have, which is well known to the wider group, if we can find suitable, bolt-on acquisitions, the business case will be supported.
“We have done quite a lot of research on this and between £250m and £1bn in AUM there are quite a number of businesses. Some of those we would be very interested in talking to,” he says, pointing out that in the current landscape a business managing £500m has to have the same sorts of controls in place in terms of compliance and risk as a firm such as Quilter Cheviot.
Asked how he sees things moving from here, Loudon says he expects there will be a smaller number of wealth management firms in a few years’ time, with businesses at the larger end more likely to survive as they are better able to accommodate all the costs.
He says: “Consolidation comes in waves and we are in the wave at the moment. It has been going for a couple of years and there is probably more to go.”
