Nucleus Financial Platforms, one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, has appointed Craig Metcalf to its sales team in a newly created role as Strategic Account Director. He will report into Paul Bagley, Nucleus’ Distribution Director.

He’s the second new senior hire into Nucleus’ sales team in the last two months following the appointment of Laura Barnes as Director of Business Development.

Craig is an experienced sales leader with unrivalled experience working in both investment management and distribution over the last 20+ years. He joins from Canada Life Asset Management where he was Head of Strategic Alliances responsible for leading the advisory distribution team. Prior to this he spent 5 years at Aberdeen Standard Investments as 3rd Party & Major Distribution Director and has also held senior roles at AXA Elevate and Cofunds Ltd.

Craig originally moved to the UK from Canada in 1998 as a professional ice hockey player playing for Chelmsford Chieftains in the English Premier Hockey League.

Paul Bagley, Nucleus’ Distribution Director, said: “I’m delighted that we’ve been able to attract someone of Craig’s calibre to our sales team. He has a proven track record in managing key relationships to ensure the adviser view is central to strategic thinking and development, so he’ll be a great addition to my team.

“Our ambition is to grow so we have the scale and profitability to continue investing in our products, service and price. Key to this is the ability to recruit the right talent. Craig’s experience of working closely with advisers will help guide us to invest in what’s important to them, so together we can help their clients have a more rewarding retirement.”

Craig Metcalf, Nucleus’ Strategic Account Director, said: “Joining Nucleus was an easy decision, and a really important step in my career, at this exciting time in its journey. The business is growing at pace and building scale and is clearly committed to building a market leading retirement-focused platform. I’m looking forward to getting my sleeves rolled up and working with Nucleus’ strong adviser base to ensure great outcomes for their clients.”

You can download a PDF of the press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.

Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.

Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.

Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £44 billion* in assets under administration.

* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q1 2023

Nucleus has created an online hub to help prepare and support planners and advisers ahead of the launch of Consumer Duty next month. The Consumer Duty hub provides a wealth of topical and relevant information to help them understand how Consumer Duty impacts their firm, and how to identify the areas needing attention.

The hub includes target market statements for the James Hay and Nucleus Wrap platforms as well as fair value assessments for the products available via these platforms. There are also guides, recaps of rules and checklists to help advisers and planners meet their Consumer Duty requirements.

As part of this initiative, Nucleus has partnered with The Verve Group to host a series of eight webinars about Consumer Duty. These have been tailored to help the advice profession understand what it needs to do to be compliant with the new rules.

Paul Bagley, Distribution Director for Nucleus said: “We’re delighted to team up with The Verve Group to offer a series of webinars to help advisers and planners understand what the new rules involve and make sure they’re ready for the new regulations coming in. We hope the hub together with the webinars provide a helpful one stop shop for all things Consumer Duty related”.

Christian Markwick, Head of Adviser Support from the Verve Group who will be leading the webinars said: “There are eight webinars lasting an hour each and all are CPD accredited. They have been designed specifically to be helpful for advisers and planners and include all the information they need to know to adapt their business to be ready and compliant and more importantly, to show how they can evidence that they’re on top of all things related to Consumer Duty”.

The webinars are available on the Consumer Duty hub and cover a range of subjects to support advisers with everything they need to be Consumer Duty ready. Four of the webinars have already taken place, however they are available on demand for those who register.

The first four sessions available on demand include:

• Reviewing your Consumer Duty plan and ensuring you have set realistic timetables

• Proposition plus Product Intervention and Product Governance Sourcebook (PROD)

• Looking at Fair Value Assessment

• Does your Central Investment/Retirement Proposition match the ‘house’ philosophy?

The next four sessions will cover:

Thursday 1 June 2023
10:30am – 11:30am
Platform Due Diligence (PDD) – does your platform deliver?

Tuesday 20 June 2023
10:30am – 11:30am
Consumer understanding – review and refresh client communications

Tuesday 18 July 2023
10:30am – 11:30am
How to test and evidence consumer understanding, linked to terms and conditions

Tuesday 15 August 2023
10:30am – 11:30am
How to test and monitor outcomes to ensure you’re consistently staying compliant

You can download a PDF of the Press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.

Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.

Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.

Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £43.5 billion* in assets under administration.

* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q4 2022

Strong progress against strategy, with profit enabling investment in product, service and price.

Nucleus Financial Platforms Ltd, one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, is today announcing results for the year to 31 December 2022.

It benefitted from a first full year of contribution from both the Nucleus Wrap and James Hay platforms. These strong results demonstrate progress against the strategy of building scale, growing profitability and ongoing investment in products, service and price.

Financial highlights

• Revenue was up 80% to £114.5 million (2021: £63.6m) with costs, excluding exceptional cost, only increasing by 20%.

• Adjusted profit, which excludes exceptional/one-off costs, was up to £47.7 million (2021: £7.9m).

• Profit before tax was up to £25.4m (2021 £24m loss).

• Administrative expenses increased from £66.7m to £81m, reflecting the Nucleus Financial plc acquisition. However, cost savings achieved through the outsourcing of IT and operations to FNZ helped offset the cost increases.

• Net flows for on-sale products were positive in the year at £169m. 

Richard Rowney, CEO of Nucleus, said: “This has been a year of significant progress for the group. In the first full year of trading since we joined together Nucleus Financial plc and James Hay Partnership, the numbers we’re reporting today show the benefits of our combined scale are starting to deliver.

“Looking ahead, we’re excited about the prospect of continuing to invest in our products, service and price, enabling us to deliver great financial outcomes for our customers and ultimately helping make their retirement more rewarding.”

Strategic highlights

2022 was a year of good momentum as our strategy to build scale began to deliver results. The progress we’ve made has ensured we’re well placed to continue our journey to create the UK’s leading retirement focused adviser platform, via organic and acquisitive growth.

• James Hay and Nucleus businesses are now fully integrated under a single management structure and new brand.

• Since James Hay’s acquisition of Nucleus in 2021, we have invested £4.5 million in improving service, and £12.6 million in technology and transformation, as well as making good progress in the development of a new, leading retirement platform. 

• The group’s strong financial backing was further strengthened as HPS Investment Partners was welcomed as the new majority shareholder, alongside existing shareholder Epiris. 

• We have continued to invest in our people bolstering our board strength with the appointment of Gordon Wilson as the new chair, and two new non-executive directors.  We have strengthened our senior leadership team adding expertise in managing acquisitions, integration, outsourcing technology and replatforming. We also welcomed 130 new colleagues to the group last year.

• The Nucleus Foundation was established, a registered charity operated by Nucleus with appointed trustees, with £750k of initial funding to provide support to organisations and individuals across the UK. 

• In January 2023, we announced the recommended offer for Curtis Banks Group plc, to be effected by means of a scheme of arrangement which was approved by its shareholders in February 2023. The acquisition is expected to complete in Q3 2023, subject to regulatory approvals. 

Outlook

The long-term outlook for the sector remains positive with the demand for financial advice remaining as strong as ever. We are well-positioned for growth and have the scale and financial strength to take on the challenges in front of us, while continuing to invest for the benefit of the advisers who have chosen to partner with us, their clients, as well as our people.

2023 is shaping up to be another pivotal and exciting year. It will see us bring together Nucleus and Curtis Banks to create a leading retirement-focused adviser platform group with approximately £80 billion of assets under administration.

You can download a PDF of the Press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.

Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.

Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.

Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £43.5 billion* in assets under administration.

* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q4 2022

Nucleus Financial Platforms, one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, announces that Heather Hopkins has been appointed as chair of its Advisory Board. And in a move to become more representative of the group’s wider user base, its remit has been expanded to also include advisers using the James Hay platform.

Heather is Managing Director and Founder of NextWealth, a specialist consultancy that helps individuals and organisations with a stake in the future of financial advice understand what’s next in wealth. In a career spanning Toronto, Boston, Tokyo and London, she’s gained a strong reputation as a data and research expert, specialising in the UK financial adviser and retail wealth management markets.

As chair, Heather will work closely with Nucleus CEO Richard Rowney and Chief Commercial Officer Alex Kovach to ensure effective engagement among the cross-section group of twelve advice firms.

For many years the Advisory Board has played a crucial role in helping the Nucleus executive team make key strategic and propositional decisions. It’s also a valuable forum for airing and debating the many issues affecting advice firms today, from regulatory and technological, to general practice management.

Heather Hopkins, Chair of the Nucleus Advisory Board said: “I’ve long admired Nucleus’ approach to involving advisers in its strategic thinking via this board, and I’m now pleased to have been asked to play an active part in it. It’s vital platforms deeply understand both the views of advisers on the market and what they need from their partners, along with what specifically the Nucleus group can do to support them. I look forward to chairing the board and helping Nucleus better understand the needs of its adviser customers.”

Richard Rowney, Nucleus CEO added: “We’ve run the Advisory Board since inception over sixteen years ago, and over that period it’s played a pivotal role in helping our team understand what’s important to advisers, shaping the platform’s strategic direction and the development of the proposition. We’re delighted that Heather has agreed to be the first independent chair, as she brings extensive commercial, regulatory and sector knowledge, which will be so useful to us all.

“I have no doubt she’ll be a strong chair and will help ensure we focus on the topics our users care deeply about, ultimately ensuring we’re both delivering great outcomes for their clients.”

You can download a PDF of the Press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.

Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.

Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.

Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £43.5 billion* in assets under administration.

* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q4 2022

In its third senior hire this month, Nucleus Financial Platforms, one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, has appointed Laura Barnes as Director of Business Development.

This is a newly created role, reporting into Paul Bagley, Nucleus’ Distribution Director. Laura starts with Nucleus on 2 May.

Laura is a highly experienced industry platform professional, with over 25 years’ experience in financial services and a strong track record in leading sales and distribution teams.  

She joins from Parmenion, where she was Head of Intermediary Distribution for almost three years with responsibility for sales strategy and growth. Prior to that she held senior sales management roles at Aegon, Cofunds and Axa Group.

Paul Bagley, Nucleus Distribution Director said: “It’s a coup for us to hire someone of Laura’s ability into this newly created role.  She’s a great fit for our team, bolstering our sales leadership and providing us with even greater firepower as we invest in building the leading retirement focused adviser platform in the UK. 

“She’s well known and respected across the industry, and her significant platform knowledge, experience in understanding advisers’ needs, and proven ability to develop and inspire high-performing teams, will help us keep our growth plans on track. 

Laura Barnes incoming Director of Business Development added: ‘I’m thrilled to be joining Nucleus at this exciting stage of its growth. This is an ambitious and innovative business with a clear strategy that’s clearly working as it transforms into one of the scale leaders in the sector.

“I’ve been incredibly impressed with the passion, innovation and commitment to financial advisers shown by Nucleus, and I’m very much looking forward to working with such a talented and professional team to deliver a great platform experience for advisers.” 

You can download a PDF of the Press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.

Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.

Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.

Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £43.5 billion* in assets under administration.

* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q4 2022

In a major step towards modernising the James Hay Online platform, Nucleus today announces three significant changes that will benefit customers.

1. Interest will be paid on transactional cash balances from July
2. The cash panel available for longer-term cash investments will be significantly extended
3. Last remaining exit fees removed

Ahead of the necessary work to update the core technology for James Hay Online, Nucleus has been able to make these proposition enhancements using investments realised by the group’s increased scale.

In the first of the improvements, James Hay will start paying interest on its transactional cash account from July.

In a rising interest rate environment, fair returns on instant-access transactional platform cash accounts have become more important. Recently, Nucleus Wrap announced a new rate-sharing approach where a treasury team proactively manages pooled cash across a panel of nine banks to maximise returns, spread risk, and deliver a competitive interest rate to customers while keeping other core charges as low as possible. This approach will be extended to customers of James Hay Online from July.

The rate customers will receive will fluctuate depending on the rates Nucleus is able to obtain through its actively managed treasury function, but the initial rate is expected to be in the region of 1.5%.

Next, recognising that some customers would prefer to lock their cash away for longer periods of time in exchange for higher rates of interest, Nucleus is also significantly revamping its cash panel, through a new partnership with Bondsmith. The new panel will provide access to a far wider range of competitive fixed term deposit and notice accounts, with a reduced minimum deposit amount of £1k (previously £25k), to provide greater flexibility and enable more customers to take advantage of the higher interest rates on offer.

Finally, Nucleus is pleased to announce the removal of the last remaining exit fees that applied to the following James Hay Online charge types:

Alex Kovach, Chief Commercial Officer at Nucleus said: “Whilst we’re busy developing our new platform, we are keen to use our new group’s scale to invest in our existing platform products, the service we provide, and the price customers pay. So, we’re very pleased to be able to make these three improvements for our James Hay Online customers.

“We believe we’ve got the balance right between offering an attractive rate of return on the short-term transactional cash account, whilst providing greater investment choice and flexibility for those seeking higher returns over longer periods of time.

“The removal of the final remaining exit fees from James Hay Online is an important step in our reforms. We don’t believe any customer should face unreasonable barriers to exit if they wish to leave, for whatever reason.”

You can download a PDF of the Press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.

Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.

Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.

Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £43.5 billion* in assets under administration.

To find out more visit: www.nucleusfinancialplatforms.com   

* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q4 2022

Nucleus Financial Platforms, one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, has appointed Justin Tovey as interim Chief Risk Officer (CRO), subject to regulatory approval.
 
Justin is an experienced CRO with substantial experience operating at executive level.  He has a track record in leading improvements in effective risk management, governance and compliance and in developing high performing teams. 

He replaces current CRO Martin Ettles, who has decided that having helped bring the Nucleus Financial and James Hay businesses together, and set the course towards completion of the Curtis Banks acquisition, now is the right time for him to leave the group and seek out a new challenge.

Justin joins on 24 April from River and Mercantile Group where he was CRO for four years. Prior to this he held senior roles at Old Mutual Wealth, PWC and Lloyds Banking Group.  He also brings valuable regulatory experience, having worked for four years as Senior Governance & Prudential Specialist at the FCA. 

Martin will support him in ensuring an orderly handover of responsibilities and until his appointment is approved by the FCA. 

Richard Rowney, Nucleus CEO said: “I’m delighted that we’ve been able to attract someone of Justin’s calibre to take up the CRO role on an interim basis.  He brings significant experience and expertise in risk leadership, having spent over two decades in major businesses in the sector, in addition to his senior role at the FCA.

“Martin has been with us since 2020 and has played a crucial role steering the risk and compliance function through a pivotal time in our transformation. On behalf of the board, I’d like to thank him for his contribution to the business, and I personally wish him well for the next stage of his career.

Justin Tovey incoming interim Chief Risk Officer said:  “I’ve been really impressed by the strategy the management team has for this business, and the strong backing of shareholders to create the UK’s leading retirement-focused adviser platform.  It’s exciting to be joining the team at this time of rapid growth, and I look forward to playing my part in helping deliver great outcomes for the 160,000 customers that Nucleus serves.”

Martin Ettles, outgoing Chief Risk Officer said: “I’ve hugely enjoyed the last three years and I am really proud of what we have achieved both as a second line function but also as an organisation.   One of the highlights of my time at Nucleus has been working with the fantastic people across the business in helping to drive forward our risk and compliance model, our cultural development, as well as being the executive sponsor for inclusion and diversity. For me personally, now is the right time to move on, with the business in good hands.”

You can download a PDF of the Press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.

Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.

Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.

Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £43.5 billion* in assets under administration.

* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q4 2022

Mark Hastings joins Nucleus this week, reporting into Mike Regan, the Group’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO).  

This is a newly created role with responsibility for leading the finance team’s day-to-day operations, including financial planning & analysis, financial control, and treasury.

A chartered accountant by profession, Mark has a breadth and depth of experience in the financial services sector.  He’s spent the last 18 years working across the platform industry, with the last six as Head of Finance at Hargreaves Lansdown.  Prior to this he was Finance & Risk Director at Ascentric for 14 years, and also held a number of senior finance roles at Credit Suisse First Boston.

Mike Regan, CFO at Nucleus said: “It’s a sign of our growing presence that we’ve been able to attract someone of Mark’s calibre to this important new role. His near two decades of leadership in platforms makes him an excellent addition to my management team, playing a crucial part through this exciting time of growth for our business, and our transformation into one of the scale leaders in the sector.” 

Mark Hastings, incoming Group Finance Director at Nucleus, said: “Joining Nucleus was an easy decision to take. It’s progressive, ambitious and has strong shareholder support, but also has a clarity of vision to be the best loved platform for advisers which is very compelling. I’m delighted to be joining the team this month and helping drive Nucleus’ evolution forward.”  

Enquiries:

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.

Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.

Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.

Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £43.5 billion* in assets under administration.

* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q4 2022

The Nucleus group welcomes the approval of the Scheme by Curtis Banks shareholders at a Court Meeting, and approval for the implementation of the Scheme at a General Meeting, earlier today.

Richard Rowney, CEO of Nucleus, commented: “We’re very pleased that the shareholders have overwhelmingly voted in favour of the acquisition. This is another key milestone in the process of bringing together Nucleus and Curtis Banks to create a leading retirement-focused adviser platform group with approximately £80 billion of assets under administration.”

The transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals and is currently expected to complete in the second quarter of 2023.

There remains no immediate change for the advisers and their clients that use either business.

This release should be read in conjunction with the full text of the RNS announcement released by Nucleus and Curtis Banks today under the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (including its Appendices).

You can download a PDF of the Press release here
 

Enquiries:

TB Cardew (Financial PR adviser to Nucleus)   

• Tom Allison +44 (0)77 8999 8020
• Shan Shan Willenbrock +44 (0)77 7584 8537
• Olivia Rosser +44 (0)7552 864 250
• E: nucleus@tbcardew.com  

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Group is led by Group CEO, Richard Rowney. Richard originally joined James Hay Partnership in 2020 and pioneered the strategy to create a leading retirement platform via organic and acquisitive growth. In August 2021, James Hay Partnership acquired Nucleus Financial Group plc and combined both businesses to create the Nucleus Group, a new group with the scale to invest in technology, product, price, and service. 

Over the last two years, the Nucleus Group has overhauled and significantly invested in its senior management team, as well as employing 120 new colleagues across the business in the last twelve months alone. The new senior team members bring deep industry experience from companies including Interactive Investor, BGL Insurance, LV and HSBC. With these additions, the Nucleus Group has added significant expertise in managing acquisitions, integration, outsourcing and re-platforming. 

From offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Salisbury, the Nucleus Group administers customer assets across SIPPs, ISAs, GIAs and other products. James Hay Online, with its 40-year heritage in SIPP and pension expertise, focuses on larger financial advisory businesses while Nucleus Wrap serves smaller and medium-sized advisers.

In October 2022, the Nucleus Group established The Nucleus Foundation, a registered charity operated by the Nucleus Group and independent trustees. With initial seed funding from shareholders of £750,000, it provides support to charitable organisations and causes across the UK.  

The major shareholders of the Nucleus Group are HPS and Epiris.

* As at as at October 2022 – Fundscape Q3 Platform Report

Nucleus has today announced the recommended cash acquisition of Curtis Banks Group plc (“Curtis Banks”) for consideration of 350p per Curtis Banks share, a 32.1% premium to the closing price before the commencement of the offer period, representing a total equity value for Curtis Banks of approximately £242 million on a fully diluted basis. 

The transaction will bring together the Nucleus Group and the Curtis Banks Group to create a leading retirement-focused adviser platform with approximately £80 billion of assets under administration. 

The combination of Curtis Banks’ award-winning SIPP and SSAS product offering and strong presence as a provider to customers with complex retirement needs, with Nucleus’ established reputation in the UK platform market will create a comprehensive proposition to support financial advisers and their customers across the full wealth spectrum.  

Advisers currently served by Curtis Banks will also benefit from access to a broader suite of platform services available within the Nucleus Group’s existing offering, including ISAs, GIAs and onshore and offshore bonds, enabling financial advisers to help make retirement more rewarding for their customers.

The acquisition of Curtis Banks represents an attractive opportunity for the Nucleus Group to advance its stated strategy of creating one of the UK’s leading adviser platforms. 

Nucleus is pleased that the board of Curtis Banks has unanimously recommended that Curtis Banks shareholders vote in favour of the transaction, and that the Curtis Banks directors who hold shares have irrevocably undertaken to Nucleus to do so themselves. Additionally, Nucleus has received irrevocable undertakings to vote in favour of the transaction from Christopher Banks, Rupert Curtis, Sally Curtis and Paul Tarran (the founding shareholders of Curtis Banks), Oryx International Growth Fund Limited and Odyssean Investment Trust plc, who in total represent approximately 49% of Curtis Banks’ issued share capital. In addition, Nucleus has received a letter of intent from Canaccord Genuity Asset Management Limited to vote in favour of the transaction. Accordingly, Nucleus has received irrevocable undertakings and a letter of intent to vote in favour of the transaction representing, in aggregate, approximately 54% of Curtis Banks’ issued share capital.

The acquisition is conditional on, amongst other things, approval by Curtis Banks shareholders and the receipt of clearances from relevant regulators. It is to be implemented by way of a Scheme of Arrangement and is expected to complete in Q2 2023.

Commenting on the announcement, Richard Rowney, Group CEO of the Nucleus Group, said: “We’re delighted to be announcing the acquisition of Curtis Banks, which on completion will become part of our leading independent adviser platform group, with approximately £80 billion in combined AuA. Our ambition remains to create the UK’s leading platform, exclusively for financial advisers to help them make retirement more rewarding for their customers. We’re already demonstrating the benefits of scale, enabling investment in technology, people, products, price and service.

As one of the UK's largest independent SIPP and SSAS providers, Curtis Banks not only adds further significant scale to our business but will complement our existing expertise and benefit our combined adviser base providing added flexibility and optionality.”

David Barral, Executive Chairman of Curtis Banks, said: "The Board of Curtis Banks is pleased to be recommending the Nucleus Group’s offer for the company, which represents a significant premium in cash and offers certain value for our shareholders. Curtis Banks recognises Nucleus’ established reputation and strength in the adviser platform market, as well as our shared customer-centric approach and aligned corporate values. The Combined Group’s greater scale, efficient platform, broader product proposition and enhanced ability to invest in technology and service will benefit all stakeholders."

This release should be read in conjunction with the full text of the RNS announcement released by Nucleus and Curtis Banks today under Rule 2.7 of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers  (including its Appendices).

You can download a PDF of the Press release here
 

Enquiries:

TB Cardew (Financial PR adviser to Nucleus)   

• Tom Allison +44 (0)77 8999 8020
• Shan Shan Willenbrock +44 (0)77 7584 8537
• Olivia Rosser +44 (0)7552 864 250
• E: nucleus@tbcardew.com  

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus

The Nucleus Group is led by Group CEO, Richard Rowney. Richard originally joined James Hay Partnership in 2020 and pioneered the strategy to create a leading retirement platform via organic and acquisitive growth. In August 2021, James Hay Partnership acquired Nucleus Financial Group plc and combined both businesses to create the Nucleus Group, a new group with the scale to invest in technology, product, price, and service. 

Over the last two years, the Nucleus Group has overhauled and significantly invested in its senior management team, as well as employing 120 new colleagues across the business in the last twelve months alone. The new senior team members bring deep industry experience from companies including Interactive Investor, BGL Insurance, LV and HSBC. With these additions, the Nucleus Group has added significant expertise in managing acquisitions, integration, outsourcing and re-platforming. 

From offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Salisbury, the Nucleus Group administers customer assets across SIPPs, ISAs, GIAs and other products. James Hay Online, with its 40-year heritage in SIPP and pension expertise, focuses on larger financial advisory businesses while Nucleus Wrap serves smaller and medium-sized advisers.

In October 2022, the Nucleus Group established The Nucleus Foundation, a registered charity operated by the Nucleus Group and independent trustees. With initial seed funding from shareholders of £750,000, it provides support to charitable organisations and causes across the UK.  

The major shareholders of the Nucleus Group are HPS and Epiris.

* As at as at October 2022 – Fundscape Q3 Platform Report