Quilter has announced it will be merging Quilter Private Client Advisers into Quilter Cheviot, its investment management arm, later this year.
The UK-based wealth manager said today that combining the two businesses will allow it to deliver a "seamless client proposition encompassing advice and bespoke investment management."
In its annual statement, which included he year-end results showing pre-tax profits for 2020 dropped by 8% to £168m, Quilter added: "Where desired, this will ensure integrated delivery of good client outcomes, while helping us maximise the growth potential within our higher net worth proposition."
The business said it would continue to "simplify" and better align its resources by transferring QPCA into Quilter Cheviot later this year. Quilter said the combined business will focus on clients with investable assets in excess of £300,000.
Quilter also said it will be cutting a "small number" of restricted financial planners during 2021.
Commenting on the results, Paul Feeney, CEO, said: "For all of us, 2020 was a year of extraordinary challenges, both personal and professional. At Quilter, I am pleased that we have not only come through the year well but also strategically and operationally stronger."
"The successful completion of our Platform Transformation Programme is a significant milestone. It not only proves our organisational capability to manage a project on this scale safely, but also sets us up for more accelerated growth in the huge UK wealth market."
"I was also pleased to have demonstrated our ability to outperform on cost expectations in challenging market conditions. We responded quickly to the changed environment in the second quarter by identifying tactical cost savings of £30 million and over-achieved against this target leading to a 3% decline in year-on-year costs despite other meaningful expense headwinds."
