Jobs boom as Waterhouse grows

Angus Rigby, the chief executive of TD Waterhouse UK, said he planned to hire more staff at the company's Leeds headquarters.

TD Waterhouse, which was formed in 1997, employs 730 staff across the UK, including 420 in Leeds.

He said: "We want TD Waterhouse in the UK to be our hub for all of our international investing. We're expanding into the Netherlands this year, we expanded into Ireland last year, and it's all done from here in Leeds. We then plan to get into the German and French markets.

"We have plans for supporting both India and China from here in the UK. We want to be the hub for all activities done outside North America. It's an endorsement of Leeds and the team we have here."

TD Waterhouse – owned by Toronto Dominion Bank – moved into Yorkshire when it bought YorkSHARE, the brokerage side of the Yorkshire Building Society in 1999. The following year, it acquired Dealwise, the share-dealing arm of Skipton Building Society, for 82m.

Mr Rigby added: "In Leeds we are supporting over 200,000 UK customers and also customers from across Europe and our subsidiaries in Canada and North America. We've got a huge opportunity to use the skill-sets here in Leeds to support investment across the UK, Europe and North America as well.

"We've grown every year. Our typical model is to acquire a business and migrate the business here to Leeds. There are big opportunities for us to expand. Our plan is to expand here in Leeds, and also utilise our offices in Manchester and Birmingham, but Leeds is the biggest of our offices. We see opportunities to take on more staff and to continue to be a big recruiter here in Leeds.

"The number of staff depends on the growth of the business."

Mr Rigby said the business was growing at about 10 per cent a year, which was an indication of the potential for new jobs.

Before joining the UK business, Mr Rigby served as managing director of Internaxx, the company's joint venture with Banque General du Luxembourg, which is based in Luxembourg.

"Many of our team are moving between the operations from Leeds to Luxembourg and vice versa,'' he said. "The language is important and the knowledge is important. A good grasp of financial services is key.

"They are predominantly local hires. We've launched a graduate recruitment programme to tap into some of the excellent universities here in Yorkshire. Most of our team are Yorkshire born and bred."

The FTSE 100 has recently hit its highest level for 18 months, as the global economy recovers from the crisis caused by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in late 2008.

Mr Rigby said: "The FTSE has had a tremendous run. We have seen a shift to more defensive type of investments – things that will ride through the election uncertainty. A lot of things are on hold from the Government's perspective. The real concern is – do they continue to be on hold if we have a hung parliament?"

Mr Rigby became chief executive of TD Waterhouse in 2006, after being promoted from the role of chief operating officer.