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10 March 2025

Nucleus urges greater political consensus around pensions and long-term savings policy

Nucleus Financial Platforms, the largest independent adviser platform group in the UK, has called for greater political consensus around pensions and long term savings policy, renewing its call for an independent commission in an open letter to the new Pensions Minister, Torsten Bell. It’s also been sent to other decision makers across the political spectrum.

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Read our latest press releases

14 February 2025

Nucleus makes pension calculations easier

Nucleus has extended its range of technical product resources for advisers with the addition of a number of updated pension tools.

Find out more

6 February 2025

Third Financial launches new portal that will transform advisers’ management of clients

Third Financial, part of the Nucleus group, has launched a white-labelled digital proposition that provides a modern, intuitive, automated platform that will transform the way advisers and their admin teams manage their clients.

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3 December 2024

Third Financial launches customisable mobile app

Third Financial, part of the Nucleus group, has launched a mobile app for iOS and Android devices.

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Archive

Nucleus Financial Platforms, one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, has appointed Andrew Tully as Technical Services Director.

Andrew is a well-known and highly respected pensions expert and industry commentator, with a career spanning almost 35 years working in high profile roles across the sector.

He was most recently Technical Director at Canada Life and prior to this was Pensions Technical Director at MGM Advantage. He has also held senior roles with a number of other leading pension providers including Standard Life and Aegon.

Andrew will be responsible for the analysis and interpretation of regulation, legislation and taxation issues, leading Nucleus’s experts that work with advisers. The team create white papers, run masterclasses, and generally help advisers to resolve technical issues and challenges so they can deliver better outcomes for their customers, and ultimately help them have a more rewarding retirement.

He'll also have a particular focus on helping shape Nucleus’s retirement propositions, working with industry groups and lobbying regulators and Government. The role reports to Chris Williams, Nucleus’s Propositions Director.

Andrew will join Nucleus on 29 September and will take over the responsibilities of Neil MacGillivray, who is retiring as head of the technical support unit after a successful twenty five year career with James Hay and Nucleus. Neil leaves at the end of the year after a handover to Andrew.

Chris Williams, Proposition Director at Nucleus, said: “We welcome Andrew to Nucleus and are thrilled to have attracted a true industry heavy-hitter to our growing team. He has an impressive track record of championing the retirement causes of interest to advisers and their clients, and is one of the best known and most respected pensions names in the industry.

“He’ll also help us shape our retirement proposition, ensuring that our priorities are aligned with those of advisers and that we support them in every way we can to help their customers plan for retirement.”

Andrew Tully, Technical Services Director, said: “I’m delighted to be joining Nucleus at this exciting time in the platform’s evolution, as it cements its position as a scale player in the industry with a very clear purpose to help make retirement more rewarding.

“I’m looking forward to working with the team to play my part in helping to build the best retirement platform for advisers and their clients, and to improving understanding of pensions so that more people can look forward to a secure and rewarding future.”

You can download a PDF of the press release here 


Enquiries: 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309


Notes to editors:

About the Nucleus Financial Platforms group
The group offers investment platforms and products that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers.
Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.
Our award-winning platform Nucleus was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.
Curtis Banks is one of the UK’s largest administrators of SIPP and SSAS solutions for customers and businesses. It is one of Europe’s largest commercial property landlords, a specialist area for self invested pensions. The business maintains a focus on providing high levels of technical support, robust service, modern technology and innovation.
Together we’re one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform and product groups, with approximately £80 billion in assets under administration, helping nearly 5,000 advisers make retirement more rewarding for almost 250,000 customers.

 
Nucleus appoints pensions expert Andrew Tully as Technical Services Director

Nucleus Financial Platforms (Nucleus), one of the UK’s leading independent adviser platforms, is pleased to announce that its acquisition of the Curtis Banks Group (Curtis Banks) has completed. 

Bringing together Nucleus and Curtis Banks creates a leading retirement focused adviser platform with approximately £80 billion of assets under administration, helping nearly 5,000 advisers make retirement more rewarding for almost 250,000 customers.

Richard Rowney, CEO of Nucleus, said: “We’re delighted that our acquisition of Curtis Banks is now complete. Today we welcome our new colleagues to the Nucleus Group and we’re excited to start work on bringing our businesses together.

“This is an important milestone for our business, creating one of the largest adviser platform groups in the UK with approximately £80 billion of assets under administration. It helps us to build on our position as a key player in the market, enabling us to continue to invest in the priorities of advisers, and deliver our purpose of helping make retirement more rewarding.”

Peter Docherty, Interim CEO of Curtis Banks, added: “Everyone at Curtis Banks is excited about the opportunities this transaction brings to advisers, their clients and personally for them. The completion means we can now harness the opportunities it brings and be able to offer advisers access to a broader suite of platform services, while continuing to offer both our on and off platform services, a larger customer support function and have the ability to invest in the business. 

“We’ll ensure the transition to being part of the Nucleus Group is a smooth one for advisers and their clients, with minimal disruption.”

For the immediate future both businesses will continue to operate independently and there will be no change for advisers or customers of either business.

You can download a PDF of the press release here 


Enquiries: 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309


TB Cardew (Financial PR advisers):

Tom Allison / Shan Shan Willenbrock
E: nucleus@tbcardew.com
T: +44 (0)7789 998020 / +44 (0)7775 848537


Notes to editors:

About the Nucleus Financial Platforms group
The group offers investment platforms and products that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers.
Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.
Our award-winning platform Nucleus was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.
Curtis Banks is one of the UK’s largest administrators of SIPP and SSAS solutions for customers and businesses. It is one of Europe’s largest commercial property landlords, a specialist area for self invested pensions. The business maintains a focus on providing high levels of technical support, robust service, modern technology and innovation.
Together we’re one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform and product groups, with approximately £80 billion in assets under administration, helping nearly 5,000 advisers make retirement more rewarding for almost 250,000 customers.

 
Nucleus completes acquisition of Curtis Banks

Nucleus’s Head of Technical Support Neil MacGillivray is retiring from his role with the platform group later this year, after a distinguished twenty five year stint with James Hay and Nucleus.

Neil joined James Hay in 1998 after 17 years with the Royal Bank of Scotland where he latterly worked in the bank’s Private Trust and Taxation Department. During his time with James Hay he has built the reputation of what is now the Nucleus’s Technical Support Unit as a go-to-provider of insight and commentary on all tax, trusts and pension issues.

Neil also served on the Committee of the Association of Member Directed Pension Schemes from 2010 to 2016, the last three years as Chair, representing the interests of the SSAS and SIPP product sector.

Alex Kovach, Chief Commercial Officer at Nucleus, said: “On behalf of everyone at Nucleus I would like to thank Neil for his contribution over a long and successful career with the group.

“His technical knowledge on pensions, tax and trusts is formidable and he is highly regarded by advisers providing insight and expertise to help them deliver better outcomes for their customers, and ultimately help make retirement more rewarding.

“He leaves with our very best wishes for a very long and happy retirement.”

Neil MacGillivray, Head of Technical Support at Nucleus, added: “After a twenty-five-year career working for James Hay and latterly Nucleus, and with the grand old age of sixty fast approaching, I have decided it is time to retire and focus on the next chapter of my life.

“There has been a lot of major changes in financial services over this time such as RDR, Pensions Simplification, Pensions Freedoms and of late Consumer Duty. It has been a privilege to have been able to deploy our insight to help advisers navigate these and understand the implications for them and their clients.”

External recruitment to replace Neil is currently underway.

You can download a PDF of the press release here 

Enquiries: 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus
The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.
Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.
Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.
Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £44 billion* in assets under administration.


* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q2 2023

Nucleus’s Head of Technical Support Neil MacGillivray to retire

Nucleus Financial Platforms (Nucleus), one of the UK’s leading independent adviser platforms, is pleased to announce that its acquisition of the Curtis Banks Group (Curtis Banks) has received all necessary regulatory approvals.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), and Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) have all issued their approvals, and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has concluded that the transaction does not qualify for investigation under UK merger control law.

Bringing together Nucleus and Curtis Banks will create a leading retirement-focused adviser platform with approximately £80 billion of assets under administration, helping nearly 5,000 advisers make retirement more rewarding for almost 250,000 customers.

The combination of Curtis Banks’ award-winning SIPP and SSAS product offering, and strong presence as a provider to customers with complex retirement needs along with Nucleus’ established reputation in the UK platform market will create a comprehensive proposition to support financial advisers and their customers across the full wealth spectrum.

In a market where scale is increasingly important, this transformational deal will enable further investments in technology, people, products, price and service for the benefit of advisers and their customers. For the immediate future both businesses will continue to operate independently and there will be no immediate change for advisers or clients of either business.

Peter Docherty, currently Interim CEO of Curtis Banks, will continue to lead the Curtis Banks business reporting to Richard Rowney, Group CEO of Nucleus. It is expected that in time, Curtis Banks will be rebranded as Nucleus.

Richard Rowney, CEO of Nucleus, said: “We are pleased to have now received regulatory approval, and look forward to completing this transformational deal in the coming weeks. We’ll then start working closely with our new colleagues at Curtis Banks to bring together our businesses and provide a best-in-class service to the advisers we serve.

“We’re creating one of the largest adviser platform groups in the UK with assets under administration of c.£80bn. Curtis Banks will be an important part of our group, bringing award-winning SIPP and SSAS offerings, which will help us in our purpose of helping make retirement more rewarding.”

Peter Docherty, Interim CEO of Curtis Banks, said: “Receiving regulatory approval is a key milestone in the acquisition process. Once the transaction completes we can start to bring our businesses together in a considered, mindful and practical way, ensuring we have the best combination of technologies, operations and structure that can deliver the group’s strategy.”

The acquisition was approved by Curtis Banks shareholders in February and remains subject to a court sanction hearing. It is expected to complete in the coming weeks.

You can download a PDF of the press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

TB Cardew (Financial PR advisers): 
Tom Allison / Shan Shan Willenbrock
E: nucleus@tbcardew.com
T: +44 (0)7789 998020 / +44 (0)7775 848537

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus
The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.
Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.
Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.
Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £44 billion* in assets under administration.
 
About Curtis Banks
Curtis Banks administers self-invested pension products, principally SIPPs and SSASs. The Group commenced trading in 2009 and has successfully developed, through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions, into one of the largest UK providers of these products.


* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q2 2023

Nucleus acquisition of Curtis Banks

Nucleus Foundation has partnered with the Verve Foundation to fund and support an initial cohort of 10 women to join the We Are Change programme.

The programme is designed to provide training and qualifications support to those looking to start a career in financial advice.

The grant from the Nucleus Foundation will allow the Verve Foundation to launch a programme targeted specifically at women for the first time.

The support from the Nucleus Foundation will provide the entire cohort of women with the funding required to achieve their Level 4 CII Diploma in regulated financial planning.

The Nucleus Foundation was launched at the start of the year with £750k of initial funding. One of its key areas of focus is to encourage more women into financial advice careers working alongside organisations who are committed to increasing diversity within the sector.

Despite positive steps forward in recent years, the financial advice industry continues to see a stark difference in the number of women entering the profession. According to the most recent data from the FCA only 16% of regulated financial advisers in the UK are women. That’s why this initiative is so important as it is will help attract and train more women to consider a career in financial advice which ultimately will help increase access to qualified female financial advisers.

Richard Rowney, CEO of Nucleus and Nucleus Foundation Trustee, said: “We’re proud that the Foundation’s first major investment is centred on encouraging more women to become advisers. We greatly respect the work of the Verve Foundation and are pleased to be able to partner with them to play our part in tackling the diversity gap in the advice sector.

“This is one of the first grants the Nucleus Foundation has made and it clearly demonstrates the positive contribution and impact we want to make. I can’t think of a better way of using our resources to bring about this much needed change, and help train the next generation of financial advisers.”

Hayley Rabbets, Head of the Verve Foundation, said: “We’re delighted to have the support from the Nucleus Foundation to launch an exclusive We Are Change cohort specifically designed to help support more women into the industry.

“Anything the sector can do to break down barriers and make the industry a more diverse, inclusive and welcoming place to be is to be celebrated. So, to have the support of the Nucleus Foundation, whose aims and values so closely align with our own, is really exciting.”

For more information on the We Are Change programme and the application process please go to the Verve Foundation website.

You can download a PDF of the press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus
The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.
Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.
Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.
Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £44 billion* in assets under administration.
 
The Verve Foundation: We Are Change
Originally launched in 2021 to help those who became unemployed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, The Verve Foundation’s We Are Change initiative continues to attract people from outside the industry, supporting them throughout their journey into a range of roles.
The initiative works by attracting those who would love a career in finance but who would otherwise struggle to get a foot through the door. It then sets them away with fully funded qualifications, to enhance their appeal to prospective employers, and also provides practical skills and training, to help them identify the financial services segment that is best matched to them.
Success for us is helping them secure a role, anywhere in finance, as this means more talent, more ideas and more interest in an industry that has hitherto struggled to attract the attention we believe it deserves.


* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q2 2023

We Are Change

Nucleus Financial Platforms, one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, has significantly revamped its cash panel on the James Hay platform in partnership with Bondsmith.

This new service goes live on 26 July and provides access to an increased range of competitive fixed term deposit and notice accounts from a wider selection of banks with more banks expected to be added in the coming months.

Terms from six months to five years are available and there’s also a reduced minimum deposit of between £1k and £10k depending on the bank (reduced from £25k).

There are currently 26 different account options up from the three that were previously available, providing greater flexibility and enabling more customers to take advantage of the higher interest rates on offer.

Chris Williams, Proposition Director at Nucleus, said: “Our James Hay platform pays an attractive rate of interest on the transactional cash that customers have in their products. But at a time of uncertain markets, high inflation and an increasing Bank of England base rate, some are looking to lock their cash away for longer periods of time in exchange for higher investment-style returns.

“This is exactly what we’re providing with our enhanced cash panel with Bondsmith. We’re giving advisers the ability to recommend these new products to their customers, offering leading returns on cash from a wide selection of banks to make their cash work harder.

“As we build scale, we continue to invest in the priorities of advisers to help them deliver better outcomes for their clients and ultimately help to make their retirement more rewarding.”

Tom Higham, Managing Director of Savings at Bondsmith, added: “We are delighted to be working with Nucleus to enable advisers using the James Hay platform to help customers maximise the interest they can earn on their cash. Through Bondsmith, customers are able to access an increasingly wide range of savings accounts from UK banks.

“And with interest rates on savings products at their highest level for over a decade, we’re proud to be able to help more clients improve the returns on their cash in this environment."

You can download a PDF of the press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus
The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.
Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.
Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.
Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £44 billion* in assets under administration.
To find out more visit: www.nucleusfinancialplatforms.com   
About Bondsmith
Bondsmith is an FCA regulated financial technology company that empowers clients to make the most of their cash by delivering innovate savings solutions.


* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q1 2023

Making cash work harder

Nucleus Financial Platforms, one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, has appointed Laura Green as Commercial Delivery Director. Laura will report to Chief Commercial Officer Alex Kovach.

In this newly created role, Laura will be responsible for leading the delivery of Nucleus’ commercial activities. She’ll have a particular focus on helping to develop a market leading proposition and will work with front-line teams to deliver an adviser experience that exceeds expectations.

Nucleus’ vision is to be the best loved platform for advisers, and as it transforms into one of the scale leaders in the sector, it is delighted to be able to attract colleagues of Laura’s calibre to join the business.

Laura is a highly experienced professional, with more than 17 years’ experience in financial services and has a strong track record in leading high performing teams to support the delivery of strategy and innovation.

She joins Nucleus this week after seven years at NatWest Group as Managing Director of Strategy for Coutts, and she was also a member of the Wealth Business Executive Committee. Prior to this she worked at Deutsche Bank, Barclays’ Wealth and Investment Management division, and a Management Consultant in Accenture’s strategy practice.

Alex Kovach, Nucleus’ Chief Commercial Officer, said: “We’re excited to welcome Laura and her extensive knowledge and experience of wealth management to this newly created position. As we continue to invest in the priorities of advisers to help them deliver better outcomes for their clients, she’ll play a crucial role at this exciting time of growth for our business.”

Laura Green, Commercial Delivery Director, said: “Nucleus is a business I admire, not only for its strategy and growth trajectory, but also for the way it’s using its scale to invest in building the best retirement platform for advisers. I’m looking forward to working with the team to build on the success they’ve achieved to date, and to play my part through the next phase of growing the business.”

You can download a PDF of the press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus
The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.
Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.
Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.
Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £44 billion* in assets under administration.


* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q1 2023

Nucleus appoints Laura Green as Commercial Delivery Director

James Hay, part of Nucleus Financial Platforms, one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups has partnered with data tech provider Origo on its Unipass Letter of Authority (ULoA) service.

A paper from consultancy the lang cat in Q3 2022 shone a light on poor processes. One of the headline findings, and one that advice professionals were most frustrated with, was that letters of authority took far too long to process and were a major cause of concern.

The Unipass service, which will be live on the James Hay platform on 3 July will significantly improve the Letter of Authority process for both advisers and their clients. Using the service, the entire Letter of Authority process will be completed in a fraction of the time it takes currently. It also allows advisers to track the process from start to finish, allowing them to keep the client fully informed as well as providing a higher level of security and GDPR compliance.

Steve Knight, Customer and Business Operations Director at Nucleus, said: “As a platform our main purpose is to help improve the adviser experience and we are constantly looking for ways to invest in and improve adviser interactions. This is a fantastic example of how we can do this. Origo’s digitised solution transforms the current process, providing a faster more client friendly service which in turn allows advisers to spend their time on more value-add support for their clients. We’re working on bringing the same efficiency to the Nucleus platform soon.”

Anthony Rafferty, CEO at Origo, said: “We are delighted to welcome Nucleus with its James Hay platform as a user of Unipass Letter of Authority. This is a service that financial advisers have had at the top of their wish list for a number of years as a key way to improve their onboarding service, as evidenced in two comprehensive reports from the lang cat*, where the current process was highlighted as a major source of frustration for advice firms and their clients.

“With Consumer Duty requiring companies to look at every aspect of their business to ensure good outcomes for consumer’s and avoid foreseeable harm, providers are quickly realising the benefits Unipass Letter of Authority delivers for them, advice firms and the end client. We expect to see more companies turn to technology to help them address the pain points in their processes and to ensure their service levels deliver against the new rules.”

You can download a PDF of the press release here


For further information please contact:

For James Hay:
Linda Harper
Nucleus Press Office
07876 145 309

For Origo:
Rob Kingsbury
KGR Media Services
07900 931 305

* Source: Papers from the lang cat - A Disconnected World: The Adviser’s Reality, and A Fragmented World

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus
The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.
Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.
Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.
Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £44 billion** in assets under administration.


** Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q1 2023

James Hay goes live with Unipass Digital Authorisation for Letters of Authority

Nucleus Financial Platforms, one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, has appointed Craig Metcalf to its sales team in a newly created role as Strategic Account Director. He will report into Paul Bagley, Nucleus’ Distribution Director.

He’s the second new senior hire into Nucleus’ sales team in the last two months following the appointment of Laura Barnes as Director of Business Development.

Craig is an experienced sales leader with unrivalled experience working in both investment management and distribution over the last 20+ years. He joins from Canada Life Asset Management where he was Head of Strategic Alliances responsible for leading the advisory distribution team. Prior to this he spent 5 years at Aberdeen Standard Investments as 3rd Party & Major Distribution Director and has also held senior roles at AXA Elevate and Cofunds Ltd.

Craig originally moved to the UK from Canada in 1998 as a professional ice hockey player playing for Chelmsford Chieftains in the English Premier Hockey League.

Paul Bagley, Nucleus’ Distribution Director, said: “I’m delighted that we’ve been able to attract someone of Craig’s calibre to our sales team. He has a proven track record in managing key relationships to ensure the adviser view is central to strategic thinking and development, so he’ll be a great addition to my team.

“Our ambition is to grow so we have the scale and profitability to continue investing in our products, service and price. Key to this is the ability to recruit the right talent. Craig’s experience of working closely with advisers will help guide us to invest in what’s important to them, so together we can help their clients have a more rewarding retirement.”

Craig Metcalf, Nucleus’ Strategic Account Director, said: “Joining Nucleus was an easy decision, and a really important step in my career, at this exciting time in its journey. The business is growing at pace and building scale and is clearly committed to building a market leading retirement-focused platform. I’m looking forward to getting my sleeves rolled up and working with Nucleus’ strong adviser base to ensure great outcomes for their clients.”

You can download a PDF of the press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus
The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.
Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.
Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.
Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £44 billion* in assets under administration.


* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q1 2023

Nucleus appoints Craig Metcalf as Strategic Account Director

Nucleus has created an online hub to help prepare and support planners and advisers ahead of the launch of Consumer Duty next month. The Consumer Duty hub provides a wealth of topical and relevant information to help them understand how Consumer Duty impacts their firm, and how to identify the areas needing attention.

The hub includes target market statements for the James Hay and Nucleus Wrap platforms as well as fair value assessments for the products available via these platforms. There are also guides, recaps of rules and checklists to help advisers and planners meet their Consumer Duty requirements.

As part of this initiative, Nucleus has partnered with The Verve Group to host a series of eight webinars about Consumer Duty. These have been tailored to help the advice profession understand what it needs to do to be compliant with the new rules.

Paul Bagley, Distribution Director for Nucleus said: “We’re delighted to team up with The Verve Group to offer a series of webinars to help advisers and planners understand what the new rules involve and make sure they’re ready for the new regulations coming in. We hope the hub together with the webinars provide a helpful one stop shop for all things Consumer Duty related”.

Christian Markwick, Head of Adviser Support from the Verve Group who will be leading the webinars said: “There are eight webinars lasting an hour each and all are CPD accredited. They have been designed specifically to be helpful for advisers and planners and include all the information they need to know to adapt their business to be ready and compliant and more importantly, to show how they can evidence that they’re on top of all things related to Consumer Duty”.

The webinars are available on the Consumer Duty hub and cover a range of subjects to support advisers with everything they need to be Consumer Duty ready. Four of the webinars have already taken place, however they are available on demand for those who register.

The first four sessions available on demand include:

  • Reviewing your Consumer Duty plan and ensuring you have set realistic timetables
  • Proposition plus Product Intervention and Product Governance Sourcebook (PROD)

  • Looking at Fair Value Assessment

  • Does your Central Investment/Retirement Proposition match the ‘house’ philosophy?

The next four sessions will cover:

Thursday 1 June 2023
10:30am – 11:30am
Platform Due Diligence (PDD) – does your platform deliver?

Tuesday 20 June 2023
10:30am – 11:30am
Consumer understanding – review and refresh client communications

Tuesday 18 July 2023
10:30am – 11:30am
How to test and evidence consumer understanding, linked to terms and conditions

Tuesday 15 August 2023
10:30am – 11:30am
How to test and monitor outcomes to ensure you’re consistently staying compliant

You can download a PDF of the Press release here
 

Enquiries:
 

Linda Harper
Head of Public Relations
E: newsroom@nucleusfinancial.com   
T:  +44 (0) 7876 145309

Notes to editors:

About Nucleus
The Nucleus Financial Platform Group offers investment platforms that help make retirement more rewarding. Our two platforms are run exclusively for financial advisers, with over 160,000 UK customers.
Renowned for its SIPP expertise, James Hay Partnership has been working with larger financial advisory groups for more than 40 years, providing the means to administer pensions, savings and investments in a cost and tax efficient way.
Our award-winning platform Nucleus was acquired by James Hay in September 2021. It was founded in 2006 by advisers committed to altering the balance of power in the industry by putting the customer centre stage.
Nucleus is the name of the combined business and together it’s already one of the UK’s leading, independent, adviser platform groups, with approximately £43.5 billion* in assets under administration.


* Source: the lang cat Platform Market Scorecard Q4 2022

Nucleus teams up with The Verve Group on Consumer Duty Hub

Useful downloads

Here's our logo with three different versions available. Please email our graphic designer Iona Sorbie if you’d like an alternative version.

Media contacts

Our communications team is supported by The Lang Cat and TB Cardew.

If you're a journalist and would like to receive our corporate announcements please email:


Head of Public Relations and Sponsorships

Linda Harper (Monday to Wednesday)

Victoria Webb (Wednesday to Friday)

Take the next step with Nucleus
If you're a directly regulated, multi-disciplined firm and keen to develop your business, we'll be a great match for you.
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