A regulatory environment which makes it more difficult for US citizens based in the UK to hold an Isa or Sipp represents a growth opportunity for wealth manager W1M, according to its head of adviser solutions, George Bromfield.
W1M was created from the merger of Waverton and London and Capital, with the latter firm holding a significant client base among Americans living in the UK.
W1M holds a US regulatory licence, something which Bromfield said could be useful.
He told FT Adviser: “Many platforms are closing the Isa accounts of US citizens.
“It’s complicated from a regulatory point of view, and a US citizen with an Isa can be in trouble with their tax authorities, but it is a service we can provide due to having an SEC licence.”
While London and Capital had a client base of US citizens, it was Waverton that had the SEC licence allowing it to be a registered and regulated entity in the US.
Bromfield said the merger of the two firms to create a £21bn wealth management business happened as a result of the some of the shareholders of both firms “wanting an exit”.
The company is now majority owned by Lowell Minnick Partners, a US private equity firm, which had previously been the largest shareholder in London and Capital.
Somers Limited, which was previously the largest shareholder in Waverton, retains a minority stake in the combined entity.
Bromfield said both companies were “looking for a partner” at the same time which provided incentive for the merger to happen.
Naming a business
Once the shareholdings were sorted the next item on the agenda, according to Bromfield, was to find a name for the new business.
He said: “As often happens with these things, we thought about Roman names and other fictional stuff, but we didn’t settle on anything. We were never going to choose one or other.
“Then one of the clerical staff at London and Capital found some old post which had the W1M postcode on it.
“It is a postcode that doesn’t exist now but it was the location of London and Capital’s first office, so that was the link to that firm.
“W1M is also similar to the initials of Waverton Investment Management, and could stand for wealth and investment management, which is what the firm does, so it worked in a lot of ways.”
The combined business is led by Guy McGlashan, formerly head of London and Capital, while Bill Dinning, chief investment officer at Waverton, heads runs the investment side of the business.
The assets under management of the combined business is £21bn, of which £6.5bn is run on behalf of advisers.
Bromfield said while many managed portfolio providers have tried to win market share by competing on price and moved to investing solely in passive funds as a way to keep costs down,“W1M is 100 per cent active”.
“That way the end client can see exactly what underlying stocks they are invested in.”
david.thorpe@ft.com
