Towry looks to buy up big wealth firms
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Chief executive Andrew Fisher says that Towry, which has 100 advisers and 500 staff overall, can increase its adviser base by three to five times its current size. He says: "That is our expansion goal but if the right firm came along that had 1,000 advisers, we would buy it."
Fisher says market rumours that Towry is set to buy AWD from Swiss Life are untrue but he would have a keen interest in the company if it was put up for sale.
On the retail distribution review, Fisher says the move to higher professional standards is very positive but he is convinced that advisers will find the transition to fees harder than they expect.
He says: "Advisers have to come to terms with the fact that they are not going to be able to earn £80,000 from advising one client who will never have that much disposable income in their life. They have to stop trying to make the old system work under new rules.
"Firms should pay their advisers a good salary, with no more than a 10 per cent performance bonus, and motivate them to work hard through other incentives such as pride in the job.
"There are still some firms that want to pay a low basic wage and they expect their advisers to go out and hunt for clients but that will not work after the RDR."
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