With a Midlands branch due to open in “the next couple of weeks”, TMI is now directing its attention even further north to the expanding wealth management scenes in Manchester and Leeds, where managing director Matt Phillips believes the firm can implement the next phase of its long-term plan.
“Because of the established Birmingham client base from the Broadstone days, it made sense to bring someone in and grow our presence from the foundations that we already had,” said Phillips.
“We harbour ambitions of going further afield, and are looking at both Manchester and Leeds. While London and the South East clearly dominate the wealth management picture, the amount of entrepreneurship and business start-ups mean that in the long-term Manchester and Leeds represent interesting counterweights to London.”
Nothing ventured, nothing gained
The opening of the Birmingham office – which is headed by former Towry director Matt Swatton – takes TMI’s base count to five, joining branches in London, Edinburgh, Southampton and the Isle of Man.
However, while targeting specific regions and acquiring new business – along with the instant cash flow that comes with it – is at the forefront of some firms’ push for growth, Phillips believes that the most important driver of expansion should be recruiting the right individuals.
“We are looking to expand, but one of the things that has stopped us is finding the right people at the right time,” he explained. “We want to invest in certain areas, but at the same time we want to maintain our culture, and it has not always been easy to find people that fit.
“You can see from the consolidation that is going on in the industry at the moment that it seems to be smaller IFAs that are being picked up, whereas we are looking for chartered financial planners who are looking for a fee-based environment so we can establish a long-term national network.
“TMI has just bought Broadstone, which was its largest-ever acquisition, so we want to bed that down. But in the next year or two we will be looking for certain individuals to bring in and expand the business.”
