Walker Crips has revealed that it is actively seeking to hire and acquire new advisers, as part of its push for “controlled, aggressive growth”. The firm has a pot of cash set aside dedicated to funding its external growth.
This comes as Walker Crips plans to overhaul many aspects of the company, including integrating its four entities – wealth management, investment management, pensions and collectives businesses – into one firm. There will also be measures to save on costs, such as reducing office space and renegotiating contracts.
Chief executive, Sean Lam, commented on his vision for the firm’s restructuring: “We are continuing to grow. It is what we call ‘controlled, aggressive growth’. We believe this is a time for us to look at opportunities around and move towards them.
“We have a pretty big goal to increase the number of advisers from 5 to 20 by the end of next year. We are already in the process of hiring three, but want another 12 more.”
“With more clients, more support is needed, so we want to make sure the entire infrastructure is in place when we do this. We’re not going to throw money at stuff willy nilly.
“It is very well acknowledged that there is an advice gap. We believe we are doing a good job and have a good set up.
“We have adjusted our wealth business over the last two years by streamlining our operations and improving our back office system, so we are now in a place to push forward and onboard new advisers.”
The overhaul of the company comes as Walker Crips reported a loss of around half a million pounds in its yearly results, an outcome that the firm puts down to the volatility of the pandemic as well as the consequent cut in interest rates.
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