Cardiff and London-based Mount Stuart Wealth Management is targeting growing client funds to £1bn as well as seeking to expand its professional sporting client base.
The business, which is one of 2,500 partner practices that make up FTSE 100 wealth management firm St James’s Place (SJP), was set up by Codey Rees in 2012. Since then it has grown organically and through acquisition. In 2017 it expanded into London with the takeover of a SJP partnership practice following the retirement of its founder.
To support its growth strategy the firm, based at the 2 Kingsway office building in the centre of Cardiff, is being supported in a consultancy capacity by former chairman of the WRU and rugby international Gareth Davies.
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In February SJP, which is responsible for £160bn of clients funds, made a £425m provision for the potential repayment to clients over service provision. Mr Rees, a former semi-professional rugby player and cousin of former Welsh rugby international Louis Rees-Zammit - who is now forging a new sporting career in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs - said the provision didn’t impact Mount Stuart, which he 100% owns.
Like other partner practices in SJP, which collectively employ more than 4,000 financial advisors, Mount Stuart manages client relationships, from assessing risk appetite and conducting financial planning, to ongoing client servicing with regular reviews. SJP sub-contracts the fund management to fund managers globally. These include leading players like Black Rock and Schroders to name but a few.
Mr Rees, a chartered financial planner and fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute, oversees a team of nine between Mount Stuart’s Cardiff and London operations, with two fellow financial planners in Rhys Hubbard-Miles and Callum Dance.
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Mr Rees, who gave up playing rugby after his seventeenth fracture, worked as an economist for the ONS and professional advisory firm PwC, before being accepted onto SJP’s academy programme.
On the growth trajectory of the practice he said: “I started in 2012 with zero and we are currently at £386m of private client funds. We have got three advisors within the business, myself, Rhys and Callum. I predominantly work in the private client space. In terms of client families I deal with around 130,Rhys a similar number and Callum around 70.
“If things grow for example by 7% per annum on fund performance, then over a decade it doubles. “Alongside new clients it would be fantastic for Mount Stuart at some point in the future to advise on up to £1bn of clients funds. If you throw the ball forward 15 years you can see that being achieved.”
There is potential for the firm to make further acquisitions when owners of other SJP practices seek an exit through retirement.
Having successfully embedded the acquired London practice into the business, Mr Rees said: “There is an opportunity (more acquisitions). The average age of a partnership (SJP) is relatively high, so SJP would like younger partner practices to facilitate that (buy-ins). As we have done it, and proven that we can, as long as it doesn’t impact the servicing and everything else that we have built up, it is a potential option.”
Mount Stuart doesn’t have any minimum investment criteria. Mr Rees, who played for the likes of Cardiff RFC and Newport RFC, said: “Let’s say someone invests in a junior ISA for their children or a pension for their grandchildren. As soon as they turn 18, they legally have to have ongoing reviews. So, we have Callum for all those who turn 18 and might not even know about these funds. It has been a nice way for him to build and develop relationships with our younger clients, where there isn’t an investment threshold. But with Rhys and business owners the average funds under management advised is around £500,000 and for myself around £2m, so these grow to different levels.”
Mr Davies said of his involvement; “When I was finishing full-time work I had taken advice (financial) previously which I didn’t think was that robust. Codey started from what is your plan and what I wanted to get out of it. A former colleague once told me told ‘the man who wins is the man with the plan’ and that has always struck me with Mount Stuart
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Wealth Management, which is very much a well-planned, transparent and thorough business. I am looking forward to working with Codey and the rest of the team in supporting the growth of the business.”
While having a wide array of clients, including retired partners of professional advisory firms, Mr Rees has identified potential sporting professionals as an area for growth. His cousin Mr Rees-Zammit is a client.
Mr Rees said: “There are lots of stories out there about young sporting professionals being poorly advised. It might be quite boring with SJP in that it is not going to double overnight, but then it is not going to half overnight either. So, there is an advice guarantee and a long-term build in wealth creation. So, we certainly see the professional sporting field as an area where we can drive client growth.”
While there is always some attrition, SJP operates on an annualised 95% client retention rate, based on its latest financial results.