James Rainbow is stepping aside at Schroders Personal Wealth to make way for a new chief executive four months after the joint venture with Lloyds officially launched.
Peter Hetherington will become the new chief executive, according to a press release issued on Monday afternoon. Hetherington joins from FTSE 250 financial firm IG Group.
Rainbow (pictured) will become distribution head for the UK and Latin America. Before his promotion to Schroders Personal Wealth CEO he had been co-head of UK intermediary business.
The press release described him as “instrumental” in establishing Schroders Personal Wealth over the past year. The tie-up between Lloyds and Schroders was first announced in October 2018 with Lloyds taking a 20% stake in Cazenove while Schroders nabbed £80bn of the Scottish Widows contract that had been pulled from Standard Life Aberdeen.
Scottish Widows chief executive Antonio Lorenzo, who had been named chair of the new business at the same time as Rainbow’s appointment, remains in his role.
Schroders chief executive Peter Harrison highlighted Hetherington’s “extensive” leadership experience with 16 years at executive level. The incoming CEO’s three years’ experience at IG Group would be “pivotal in delivering a leading financial planning business”, he said.
“The completion of our investment in Schroders Personal Wealth is another step forward in providing a new offering for the evolving needs of UK investors and savers. We will achieve this by combining the strengths of both shareholders alongside market-leading technology,” he said.
Former Barclays savings, investments and wealth management CEO Dena Brumpton and ex-Interactive Investor boss Adam Searle have also been brought on as independent directors.
Hetherington said: “There is a large and growing need for quality planning solutions, this means there is a huge number of people who could benefit from our help. Alongside a powerful brand, we can help make financial planning more accessible and provide great outcomes for our clients.”
Schroders changes across jurisdictions
In a separate press release, Schroders described changes to country leadership in the UK, Latin America and North America.
Alongside Rainbow’s appointment as distribution head for the UK and Latin America, Schroders announced CEO of North America and co-head of fixed income Karl Dasher would leave the firm at the end of the year.
Marc Brookman, who had been Dasher’s deputy, will take over.
Philippe Lespinard will be head of fixed income, reporting to global head of investment Charles Prideaux.
Harrison said the “evolution” of the leadership team would best serve client interests in the UK, Latin America and North America. “Our business has evolved rapidly over the past three years and our strategy for growth remains unchanged. We continue to focus on the three pillars; growing our wealth business; expanding our investment business and building private assets,” Harrison said.
