York office to close in financial firm’s team merger

Chiefs opted to merge the teams following a detailed review of relevant client accounts and said they hoped that many of the eight staff currently working out of its office in York will transfer to its new base in Leeds.

Its current hub in the city is at 34 Lisbon Street but that will change in the autumn when the firm will move and take a whole floor at No 10 Wellington Place, the new five-storey office building constructed by MEPC in the heart of Leeds’ ‘New West End’.

The building has a south facing glass façade with limestone detailing and offers car parking for clients.

Stephen Ford, director of Brewin Dolphin and head of investment management, said: “While we recognise this is a sad day for York, we are continually reviewing how we conduct business to ensure our clients receive the best possible service.

“I am confident that all our clients will be very well served from our new enlarged Leeds office and that we will continue to grow our important and highly valued business in Yorkshire from our new state of the art building.”

The merger will be led by Michael Craven, head of the firm in Leeds. It will result in 45 qualified investment managers and financial planners and their support staff being based in the new building.

The team is responsible for managing £1.5bn of client assets.

Mr Craven said: “I believe that all of our clients throughout the county and beyond will benefit from having one stonger Yorkshire office with considerably increased resources and we look forward to welcoming clients and colleagues from York.”

The company shut its Bradford office as part of a restructuring exercise, while offices in Inverness, Teeside, Hereford, Stoke and Swansea were either merged or closed to trim costs.

It appears to have made some difference based on the firm’s interim 2014 financial results. Profit before tax swelled by 215 per cent on the year before, to £21.4 million, while total income was up by 5.3 per cent to £146.3 million.

In total the company managed £28.7 billion of funds, up by 2.1 per cent on 2013.