St James’s Place’s expansion into the Republic of Ireland under its subsidiary’s discretionary fund management service is to capitalise on a local market play and “absolutely not” because of Brexit, according to Rowan Dartington executive chairman Graham Coxell.
On Thursday SJP announced it has entered Ireland’s DFM space through its subsidiary Rowan Dartington after acquiring a Dublin-based pension and investment firm, Harvest Financial Services.
Not a Brexit hedge
However, Coxell (pictured) told Portfolio Adviser the move was about believing the local Irish marketplace presents an opportunity to extend its capability and not a “Brexit hedge strategy” in any way.
“This isn’t a strategy for us having a strategic footprint in the EU,” he said. “We haven’t looked at it in that way because there is too much uncertainty around it to be honest. This is a local market play.”
He added one of the main reasons for entering Ireland is the clear alignment between the Central Bank of Ireland and the FCA around regulation, the lack of a language barrier and because Dublin is closer than Edinburgh to Bristol, where Rowan Dartington has its head office.
“It [Brexit] wasn’t part of the business case the board approved,” he added.
Consolidation will create opportunities
Harvest gives investment and financial planning advice to 1,500 clients and has assets under administration and advice of approximately €1bn. It employs more than 50 people at its offices in Dublin.
Harvest and its advisers are based solely in Dublin but Coxell said the plan is to replicate SJP’s advice and partnership model in the UK around the whole of Ireland. It is adopting the same approach for its expansion in Asia.
“We would like to recruit current financial advisers to the SJP partnership in Ireland and through that model we will offer market-leading solutions, powered by Rowan Dartington, but also other complimentary financial planning solutions.
“There are 6,000 advisers in Ireland and people might say that is too many, but our view is there will be consolidation in that advice space. That presents a big opportunity for a FTSE 100 firm to build a real locally orientated capability in Ireland.”
Coxell said the new venture will come under the SJP moniker rather than Rowan Dartington because the former is the bigger brand. However, it is likely to be initially known as “Harvest, a St James’s Place company,” he added.
Rowan Dartington was acquired by SJP in 2016. It now has £2.3bn in assets under management.
