AWD sets sights on Scottish expansion

AWD Chase De Vere, an independent financial adviser, is targeting expansion in Scotland by opening an office in the capital next year.

The company, which posted turnover of 9.6 million in 2010, has offices in Dundee and Glasgow and told Scotland on Sunday that it is now looking to recruit a team of advisers for its Edinburgh operation.

It aims to open the new office next summer once it has taken on around a dozen IFAs to add to the 15 existing staff in Dundee and Glasgow, where it has had offices since 1991.

The move follows the appointment earlier this year of Virginia Faulkner as the firm's regional manager for Scotland.

Faulkner, who returned to Scotland after three years running AWD's Cambridge office, said the Edinburgh operation would be a base from which it could continue to expand north of the Border.

"Scotland plays a crucial part in the future growth plans of AWD Chase de Vere. We are initially looking to recruit high-quality financial advisers in and around Edinburgh with a view to then having an office presence in the city to complement our existing Scottish offices," said Faulkner. We will then move to the next stage of our growth plans in Scotland."

The firm, which has 190 advisers across the UK is also seeking to boost its operations north of the Border by extending its Scottish affinity partnerships and developing new links with local lawyers and accountants.

AWD recently announced that it was recruiting around 20 advisers across the UK who were previously with the financial planning arm at Barclays, although the bulk of its new recruitment over the coming year will be in Scotland and north England.

Barclays decided to close its financial planning operation earlier this year, claiming it was no longer commercially viable.

Around 1,000 staff were made redundant as a result of the move but some are now being targeted by IFA groups as they expand ahead of the 2013 reform of the advice market under the retail distribution review.