Brewin Dolphin says pension reforms to drive growth

The firm has completed a merger of its Leeds, York and Bradford offices, making its operation in the region one of the largest outside London. It has more than £1bn in assets under management at the office, which houses almost 50 staff.

Head of Leeds Michael Craven told The Yorkshire Post the firm is expecting next year’s pension reforms to drive development in its joint service model.

He said: “Increasingly, the business is going forward on our integrated proposition. That seems to be increasingly crucial.

“With the pensions changes taking place, which is going to make it so much more flexible but very complex, I do believe there will be so much more business going forward around pensions.”

Brewin Dolphin also provides investment management services to independent financial advisers (IFAs)

While its IFA business developed “naturally”, Craven suggested the firm would seek out better relationships with other professional services firms.

“We’ve got to focus as to how we move forward on a stronger footing with firms of accountants and solicitors,” Craven said.

“We need to focus more on how to deliver our integrated services to them. We do believe that will become more of a growth area.”

In 2013, Brewin Dolphin saw its pre-tax profits down from £28.6m from £29.9m the year before, following a programme of redundancies.

Its assets under management climbed 8.9 per cent to £28.2bn over the same period.