W&F Issue 3 2018

www.wealthandfinance-news.com 26 Wealth & Finance International - Issue 3 - 2018 “MPA Private Client for clients with investable assets in excess of £500,000 pa. They are offered quarterly reviews, access to discretionary fund managers or model portfolios or bespoke offerings. Also, we arrange special lunches with fund managers and industry speakers and access to other professional services “MPA Wealth offers pension and investment services from £75,000 to £500,000. We usually recommend a Model Portfolio service from our panel of MPS (five companies) which are risk rated against Distribution Technology. Clients will get annual or biannual reviews (depending on size) “MPA Lite is a cost-effective solution for small portfolios which uses 7IMs passive risk rated portfolios, under £75,000 in size.” In terms of location, Phil sees Solihull as the ideal base for the firm, as he talks glowingly about the West Midlands region and the benefits it brings. Being in the middle of the country, the firm is accessible on a nationwide basis, meaning seeing clients physically is easier for the company, as Phil alludes to. “Excitingly, we are now one of the larger firms in the West Midlands region and we are in an ideal place geographically for the UK. It allows us to get to see clients easily around the country wherever they are and we have good links to London also. Birmingham is very close and that is a growing city in terms of investment management, which is very useful for us.” Guaranteeing that clients receive only the best service possible from the firm, staff are encouraged to work together and learn from each other, whilst also gaining the necessary qualifications which means they are experts in their roles. Phil gives us an insight into the internal culture within MPA FM. “Here at MPA FM, our internal culture is one of self-improvement, as there is no glass ceiling to ambition and the team are transparent in everything we do. “To achieve this, we encourage all our staff to take industry exams. We provide training, pay for exams, retakes, membership of a professional body (CII) and pay bonuses on certain educational achievements. Also, we have a graduate trainee scheme and have training sessions every Friday morning. We prefer internal promotions when roles come up and promote from within whenever we can. Our administration manager is only 26 and joined us two years ago as an administrator, and one of our advisers joined three years ago as an administrator. “They have regular appraisals so they know where they are and are kept informed of company achievements and goals. We all try and celebrate success as much as possible - be that a bottle of champagne, a cash bonus or nights out. Finally, the Directors, who run the business have an open-door policy so that they can be approached to discuss anything at any time creating a no fear culture in the business.” Moving forward, Phil maintains a positive outlook for the company in the times ahead, and he is clearly very excited about the future, citing the team’s ambition to capitalise on its ongoing success as a key factor in this regard. “The future is incredibly exciting as long as we have the ambition to take advantage of it. Our long-term goal is to increase funds under management to £1bn in the next four years. We are in the process of buying into another business in the Midlands, and we are acquiring the client book of another adviser in the next couple of weeks. These purchases will help project us to over £500M in the next year and a great springboard to the long-term goal. We have a number of advisers retiring this year and replacing them with younger advisers has been a challenge, but I think we are just about there.” Ultimately, the rapid growth and expansion of the firm in terms of financial aspects as well as team growth has contributed greatly to Phil’s excitement. He signs off by referring to the past and praising the team now, keen to highlight how far MPA FM has come in a relatively short space of time. “Eight years ago, we managed £42M FUM and this has grown 10-fold and it has been an exciting journey. It is a great industry to be in and long may it continue. I am a great believer in going outside of our industry to learn new things, as we can get very blinkered in our approach. Eight years ago, we were a good IFA practice. Now, we are a great company who happen to generate income from Financial services. Overall, we have great people, great structure, great risks and controls and most importantly great clients.” “Here at MPA FM, our internal culture is one of self-improvement, as there is no glass ceiling to ambition and the team are transparent in everything we do.”