Member Article

Equilibrium becomes top client of £11bn investment platform

North-West based wealth management firm Equilibrium Asset Management is now the largest financial planning client of a platform administering more than £11 billion in assets.

Following a period of sustained growth over six years and a surge in turnover of 20 per cent in 2016, Equilibrium now manages a staggering £500 million with Nucleus – the biggest single share of the £11bn assets under administration.

The business, which was founded in 1995 by Colin Lawson, manages £595 million worth of assets for more than 850 families. It first started working with Nucleus which is an adviser-built investment management platform, in 2007.

Colin puts their growth over the last five years – which has seen them win £400 million worth of new assets – down to a strategic decision to delegate the running of the business to Gaynor Rigby as managing partner.

Gaynor joined Equilibrium in 2010, and began a restructure of the business to create a very different model than most other financial planning firms. She created a team of 40 support staff to deliver a personalised service to clients. Equilibrium’s ratio of support team (client managers) to financial planners is high at 5:1, which ensures that financial planners are able to focus on their clients’ strategy.

Colin said: ’’We pride ourselves on the exceptional service we offer to all our clients and are delighted that they have entrusted us to support them with their wealth management needs over the last 21 years. Our work with Nucleus over the past 10 years has been instrumental in helping us reach £500 million on the platform.

’‘We continually review the platform marketplace to ensure that our preferred providers remain the most appropriate and competitive for our clients, and Nucleus certainly hasn’t disappointed us. We look forward to working closely with the team to hit the next milestone.’’

Nucleus is designed to hold portfolios of investments in one location for ease of management. The flexibility of the platform allows Equilibrium to develop tailored solutions for its clients.

David Ferguson, founder and chief executive at Nucleus said: ’‘Professional advisory firms, such as Equilibrium, have been key to the success of Nucleus since we launched 10 years ago. We are proud of the long-standing partnership we have developed with Colin and his team. Equilibrium has established a well-deserved position serving clients in Cheshire and beyond and we look forward to many more years of working together.’’

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ben Smith .