Smith & Williamson comes to Birmingham

Smith & Williamson was founded over a century ago and has been actively involved in investment management since 1911. Now, with around £9 billion of client assets, our fund management and banking services, tax, trust and financial advisory businesses provide the cornerstone of our offering to clients. 

Smith & Williamson is an independent company, which is now among the top ten discretionary private client fund managers and is the eighth largest accountancy firm in the UK with an annual turnover in excess of £170m, operating from eleven offices across the UK and Ireland.

The client base of Smith & Williamson Investment Management primarily includes private individuals, related trusts, SIPPs (self invested personal pensions) and other personal and corporate pensions as well as charities. Private client portfolios managed on a discretionary basis account for some 75 per cent of total funds and typically range from £250,000 upwards.

Smith & Williamson already provides investment services from London, Belfast (Cunningham Coates), Glasgow, Guildford and Bristol. Other offices are in Maidstone, Salisbury and Southampton.

In September, we will open an investment management, personal financial planning and pension service in the heart of Birmingham at 9 Colmore Row. The new office will include over 20 financial professionals by the autumn.

The new team

Investment Management
Mark Facchino
Matthew Kirkbride
John Harrop
Fern Hordern
Mark Sewell
Mark Willis
Alex Reynolds
David Shaw
John Birkenshaw
Sasha Parmar
Simon Page
Adam Jones
Dot Corke
Kelly Vickers 

Charities 
Adrian Taylor
Simon Woolf
Simon Robinson

Financial Services
Lyndon Massey
Michael White
Richard Wyatt 

The firm currently has an investment team in Worcester which is led by director, Fern Hordern. She and her team will join the new Birmingham operation, whose clients will primarily include private individuals and charities.

In due course, Smith & Williamson plans to broaden the Birmingham office to include the full range of its financial advisory services which cover tax, restructuring and recovery and accountancy services to private clients, professional practices, companies and non-profit organisations.

Offering a top quality service

David Cobb, Head of Investment Management & Banking, highlights what Smith & Williamson aims to bring to the West Midlands:

I am delighted that we are setting up an office in Birmingham and we look forward to building the leading independent investment practice in the West Midlands.

Smith & Williamson's aim is to provide a top quality bespoke investment and personal financial planning service, which draws from our very broad skill base, and is delivered locally. Our investment managers have direct access to a wide range of equities, pooled funds and many other investments so we agree a strategy with each client to meet their individual needs.

Our core service is discretionary investment management for private clients, charities and pension funds.

We recognise that financial objectives vary enormously from client to client and that identifying and prioritising goals are key to good investment management. Therefore, we place great emphasis on understanding a client's specific issues and attitude to risk.