Barclays Wealth Still Positive, Replaces Head of London and South-East

Stephen Harris

30 April 2007

After last week’s news of more defections from Barclays Wealth’s UK private client stockbroking business Gerrard, the wealth manager’s UK chief executive Mark Kibblewhite is in a bullish mood. Thirty-two staff at Gerrard's offices in London, Plymouth, Swansea and York, including 15 at director level are to join Brewin Dolphin. But in an exclusive interview with WealthBriefing Mr Kibblewhite explained that as well as being committed to a regional strategy, the company is culturally raising the bar. “We do have a performance culture, and one that encourages learning new skills. We’re totally committed to investing in staff training, for instance in tax and trust structures and financial planning.” “But this cultural change doesn’t suit everybody and we accept that there will be losses along the way,” he said. Over 1,000 people joined Barclays Wealth globally last year, and a further 400 have joined so far this year. “Our proposition is also exciting to people who are now in other traditional private client stockbrokers who are looking for a new challenge.” But more importantly clients are looking at more than just traditional stockbroking, according to Mr Kibblewhite. They’re not only interested in hedge funds and other alternatives but they want new ways of funding by way of leverage. He points out that private client stockbroking is restricted in that it can only capture liquid wealth. The move away from traditional private client stockbroking also makes strategic sense as Barclays Wealth clients tend to be younger than the average private client. Their needs tend to be between the corporate and the personal in that many have not had a wealth releasing event. Everyone in wealth management seems to professes to a business model that puts clients first, and Mr Kibblewhite is no exception. He says that what’s most important about the new approach is that the clients themselves like it. And he keeps a close personal watch to make sure this remains a reality. “I monitor this very closely as I have at least 10 face-to-face client meetings per week,” he said. “The management team at Barclays Wealth wants to leave a lasting legacy. We want to get to the position where anyone who is wealthy will talk to us before they make any decisions on how to handle or structure their wealth.” Mr Kibblewhite also confirmed that Nimrod Schwarzmann, who was head of London and South East left earlier this month. He has been replaced by Mark Wareing, who reports to Mr Kibblewhite.