Wealth manager and Financial Planner Brooks Macdonald has appointed Will Hobbs as chief investment officer from 7 April.
He joins from Barclays Wealth Management where he was most recently head of multi-asset wealth and formerly chief investment officer. In his over 20 years with the Barclays banking group former roles also include CIO and head of investment strategy of Barclays Investment Solutions.
He began his career with Barclays in 2002 as a senior global equity analyst in the consumer sector.
The appointment is subject to regulatory approval.
He will report to CEO Andrea Montague and will serve as a member of the executive committee.
Andrea Montague, CEO Brooks Macdonald said: “With his leadership and depth and breadth of experience, Will is an invaluable addition to our team as we continue to deliver strong investment performance, product innovation, and excellent client service.”
The turnaround was driven by strong net inflows of £187m from the Platform MPS business, representing an annualised growth rate of 12%.
The improvement in flows marks the end of a long period of net outflows for Brooks Macdonald since 2023.
The wealth manager reported full-year net outflows of £0.4bn for the year ended 30 June, with the second half seeing net outflows of only £0.1bn compared to £0.3bn in the first half.
Brooks Macdonald has been striving to recover after being hit by net outflows in 2023 and cutting 10% of staff. It said the cuts from its 512-strong workforce were designed to ensure it was, “set up for success, organised to deliver its strategy and drive growth.”
In July Brooks Macdonald launched a new Financial Planning brand - Brooks Financial. It said the brand has been launched to recognise the growing scale of Brooks Macdonald’s Financial Planning business following the acquisitions of LIFT-Financial, Lucas Fettes and CST.