Lovell appointed Partner at London Wall Partners

Independent financial advisory firm and wealth manager, London Wall Partners, announced today the appointment of David Lovell as Partner. A Director of IFA firm Saunderson House for the last 22 years, the appointment sees Lovell reacquainted with his old firm’s former Chief Executive Officer, Nick Fletcher.

Working closely together for some 18 years, Fletcher and Lovell have joined forces once more in a quest to ensure that the clients’ interests remain paramount, and that financial advice remains truly independent. London Wall Partners has no products of its own to offer, or any other inherent conflicts of interest - which the Partners view as critical.

Commenting on his appointment Lovell said:

“I could not be more pleased to have this opportunity to work with Nick once more. Nick has always paved the way in retail financial services, with his ground-breaking style of leadership, and in forming London Wall Partners he has attracted and built a formidable team – partnering with global investment manager and economist Jeremy Beckwith, formerly Chief Investment Officer at Kleinwort Benson, and Mark Johnston, formerly a Director in KPMG’s financial services practice.” Beckwith has joined the partnership as CIO, with Johnston appointed Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer.

“I am firmly of the view that an owner-managed partnership is the ideal structure from which to operate and provide a completely independent offering. It is the structure adopted by a number of well-established and highly regarded legal and accountancy firms, and a structure which means we will not be distracted or influenced by short-term shareholder pressures. It enables us to put our clients’ interests first, at all times – and that is our core long-term focus.”

Driving Down the Costs

Lovell explained: “A number of factors combine to enable us to offer the most cost-efficient solutions for clients while maintaining high standards of advice and execution, which Nick and I insisted upon for our clients over the last two decades.

“Most actively managed equity funds are now available at a cost of around 75 basis points, ETFs available at a significantly lower cost where active management fails to add value, and we have the freedom to use the most cost-efficient investment platforms for our clients. Combined with our use of the latest technology and a fixed fee approach for our services, we intend to expose the high costs investors are often paying and present an alternative approach with total cost and performance transparency.”

Fletcher is in turn delighted to be reacquainted with his former colleague. “Having worked with David over a period of 18 years, I am honoured that he has placed his faith in me, and that he has decided to join Jeremy, Mark and I, and the rest of the team, in this exciting new venture. Together, our executive management team has over 100 years’ experience in the financial services industry, encompassing global investment, financial planning, regulatory, audit and transaction services knowledge.”

“Our eight-man investment committee / investment research team is made up of Partners and industry practitioners with over 200 years’ of combined experience. The team tests, debates and rationalises its own and external economic, fund and product research to develop and maintain appropriate asset allocation and diversification strategies for clients. We believe that the extent and depth of our experience over a number of economic cycles will be hugely beneficial in anticipating, identifying and avoiding potential “black holes” in preserving clients’ capital, as well as sourcing opportunities to grow it.

“David and I shared responsibility for risk management through many years of turbulent markets, experience which will be put to good use in his new role. David has built thorough knowledge in a number of key areas of the business over the years - strategy, risk and compliance included - and he understands fully what it means to do things properly for the sake of clients. At London Wall Partners we have created an ethos, culture and structure where we can continue to exercise pure independence, and it comes as no surprise to me that David wants to be a part of that.”

Winning clients

Fletcher added that since receiving FCA approval on 30th November, a number of significant clients, including partners and retired partners with “magic circle” law firms, and the big four accounting practices, had signed up with London Wall Partners. “We have always specialised in working with this type of client, so their commitment to receiving independent advice from experienced practitioners has been extremely positive, and we fully expect this trend to continue. We have a number of prospective clients in the wings, all of them attracted by the deep and proven experience of the Partners, as well as the core values and ethos we have instilled in this firm. We expect London Wall Partners to continue to grow in a controlled and sustained manner, with a number of like-minded professionals set to join us on this exciting journey.

“We are optimistic that our fee income will exceed our expected estimates in 2013, and couldn't have dreamed for a better start. We very much hope that really good people, who have worked hard to become Chartered Financial Planners, and who are ambitious to become business owners, will be attracted by our proposition and might join us in the months ahead.”

For further information, journalists should contact:

Gordon Puckey
Phoenix Financial PR Limited
+44 (0) 20 7947 2856
+44 (0) 7799 767 468

OR

Nick Fletcher  
London Wall Partners LLP  
+44 (0) 20 7129 1134  
+44 (0) 7740 308 206