How to build a successful regional growth strategy

‘For us, this is a powerful proposition and indeed a flipside to having a centralised process that is run out of a high building in Canary Wharf,’ he added.

 David Loudon, Quilter’s head of onshore offices, also highlights the power of local personal relationships should not be underestimated.

‘We want to be able to offer a high quality service locally. Traditionally a client would have to take the train to London to see their investment manager. Our approach is to ensure we can meet our clients face to face where it is most convenient for them. Regional offices give us this ability,’ he said.

The challenges 

For other firms, monitoring regional activity and facilitating idea generation at the investment manager level can represent challenges.

Close Brothers Asset Management has a national presence, which has been bolstered by a string of acquisitions in recent years, most notably through Scott Moncrieff, Chartwell and Cavanagh.

CEO Martin Andrew [pictured] says technology, particularly operating from one platform, moving towards having one legal entity as a structure and introducing a national management structure have all helped with the process of overseeing and monitoring the network.

Nonetheless, he is not looking to actively grow the firm’s regional presence and is happy to only offer investment management out of the London and Manchester offices, arguing that idea generation among investment managers can prove tricky out of too many sites.

‘With investment management we are only really operating out of London and Manchester and we are not really looking to proliferate.

‘Part of this is because of investment manager idea generation activity, as one needs to debate and argue and kick ideas around, which is hard to do if everyone is in different places,’ he said.

Teper takes a different view, arguing that technology can go a long way towards countering this challenge.