PROFILE: Crusader for transparency in world of wealth management

When Neil Moles was 16 he eschewed A levels and university in order to visit different branches of Skipton Building Society on Saturdays, working for free and even paying for the parking.

He had managed to secure a job in mortgage underwriting with the society, but wanted to get experience in dealing with customers face to face and the only way to do that was to work for free.

It says a lot about the man who then went on to lead an MBO of wealth manager Lawrence Scoffield. At the age of 24, he was asked to come in for an interview by the firm’s boss Dominic Scoffeld.

“Dominic rang me in 2004 and said: ‘We’ve heard about you, come and have a chat’,” says Moles.

“I said: ‘I’ll join you but eventually I want to buy you.’

“He nearly fell off his chair laughing.”

Moles joined the firm and three years later his ambition came true when there was a change to capital gains tax rules.

“So I emailed Dominic and said can we have a chat about me buying the business?” says Moles.

“We agreed a deal and we wrote it out on a napkin.”

At 28, Moles led the MBO of Lawrence Scoffield, but it wasn’t all plain sailing.

“Yes it was brave, possibly stupid. If you see a chance you have to take it. It was risky, but I trusted the people around me.” he says.

“In 2008 we had the credit crunch and we managed to grow the business throughout the process.

“We said this model is not transparent. It’s not working so we set about transforming the business, reforming the model.

“In 2012 it was the abolition of commission and advisers had to charge fees. We knew that earlier - that we had to deliver a service that warrants getting paid.”

Moles, who is now managing director of Leeds-based wealth manager Progeny, is a crusader for transparency - or the T-word as he calls it.

“We paid the debt off after four years and in 2014 I did another MBO to take out one of my business partners,” he says.

“That was the resetting of the business and that was where the Progeny idea came from. Can we provide wealth management services under one transparent, fixed-fee roof?”

That was his ambition and it is one that has gone down well with clients who are happy to pay for a quality service that makes them richer in the long run.

Progeny now has four business areas - Progeny Wealth, Progeny Asset Management, Progeny Private Law and Progeny Corporate Law.

​Moles says ​that P​rogeny​ is different from other companies as it combines legal and wealth management advice.

​“We asked clients what frustrates you?​ They said a lack of transparency of fees and not getting joined-up advice,” he says.

“We don’t charge by the minute or the hour. We charge fixed fees.”

The group has ambitious expansion plans and expects turnover to grow by seven times between 2015 (when it made £1.5m) and 2017.

As part of these plans it has identified several acquisition targets and is talking to five firms in the South and hopes to sign deals with three by the end of the year.

“We are not buying for the sake of it. Big isn’t beautiful,” says Moles.

“We are investing in businesses. We are acquiring to hire the right people. We want the talent and they want to come on board with us.”

Progeny is keen to expand in the South and earlier this year it joined forces with Quadrant​ ​Group, a London-based wealth management firm serving private and corporate clients.

Moles says that the group’s expansion into the South is an indication of how it is exporting Yorkshire expertise to the capital.

“The North has a number of advantages,” he says.

“We have fantastic people and amazing universities. If you go to Leeds University or Manchester University you tend to stay there.

“There is a belief that if you don’t work in the M25 you’re not that good.

“We are challenging that. We have amazing people here in Leeds. We’re recruiting at the moment and there is no shortage of talent. We’ve just recruited three new people and they are all relocating to move to Leeds.”

He sees this as an interesting development and his view is there shouldn’t be a North/South divide.

“It’s not us and them. We are one. We have to class ourselves as the UK, especially with what is going on with the country at the moment.”

Moles is a Yorkshireman through and through. Born in Halifax, his father was a salesman and his mother a hairdresser.

When he was 10, his family moved to the Yorkshire Dales.

Asked how he found the move, he says: “It were different! My parents always had a love for the Dales and living there meant we could go on walks at the weekend without having to drive for over an hour.

“It was a different experience, a country experience. I spent lots of time carrying hay bales to earn money doing summer jobs.”

Moles says he was born with a work ethic.

“I always had a drive and ambition to work with numbers.

“I left school at 16 and Skipton Building Society effectively offered me an apprenticeship. They took you on and trained you up. They were hard task masters and so they should have been.

“I was a lowly administrator. You have to start somewhere and you have to understand every part of the process.

“I was so young in an industry of mature people, but I knew I could succeed if I could answer their questions.”

Where were you born – Halifax Royal Infirmary

Date of birth – 13.10.79

School – Settle High School

First job – Administrator, Skipton Building Society

Car driven – Range Rover

Favourite film – The Bourne Identity

Favourite holiday destination – Italy

Last book read – Sycamore Row by John Grisham

Favourite music – Ed Sheeran

What are you most proud of – My family, my daughter. I work away a lot. They support me.

What do you do in your spare time – Work! I’m a very driven person. I want to create a legacy.