Increased flexibility and remote working have never been far from the headlines over the past 18 months.

While the trend appears to be staff spending less time in the office, a number of wealth managers are committing to boosting their physical presence, particularly in the regions.

Three firms that have been especially active in the regions recently are Cazenove Capital, Tilney Smith & Williamson and Brooks Macdonald.

thewealthnet spoke to each of them to establish the rationale behind this and to find out if London is no longer the private banking hub it once was.

All three were keen to state that regional expansion is not a new strategy.

Robin Eggar, head of UK investment management at Brooks Macdonald, said that in his firm’s experience, “we have found that clients like a personal service, they want to access quality advice local to them.

“It’s important to have people on the ground to provide support in the regions. We also work with IFAs and other professional advisers who want to know there’s a local presence for them to refer their clients to.

“Often you see in the regions that clients do not want to feel like they’re interacting with the ‘head office’. They want somebody who understands them and their way of life.”

Karan Sejpal, team head, business owners and entrepreneurs at Cazenove Capital, also cited government policies like the “levelling up” agenda.

This has brought about a new wave of regional thinking and further stimulated entrepreneurship outside of London and the Southeast, he said.

“This has encouraged us, as well as other financial services institutions, to focus greater resources on the growing UK regional markets.”

Around 15 to 20 years ago, there was an expectation that to manage your wealth, you needed to work with London-based advisers.

“This is no longer the case,” Mr Sejpal argued.

“The industry continues to follow the shift in consumer behaviour, serving clients through dedicated regional operations, which is enabled further through the greater availability of highly-rated regional talent.”

However, after around 18 months of communicating virtually – to an outsider at least – the focus on physical offices in the regions may seem less relevant.

Mr Eggar said most clients want a hybrid model going forward. In-person meetings will still be a regular feature.

“Relationships are an important part of our business, and there’s something to be said about meeting face-to-face in order to build strong connections and trust.”

Mark Gee, senior media relations manager at Tilney Smith & Williamson, echoed this idea.

“We don’t see these modes of communication as mutually exclusive. Even as Covid-19 restrictions are eased, we know many of our clients will want to continue to want to communicate with their advisers using conferencing technology such as Teams and Zoom. Equally, we know many clients are keen to start to arrange face-to-face meetings with our people again.”

Having a strong regional presence should allow clients to communicate with their advisers and investment managers in whatever way they choose.

The firms are all in agreement that London is and will continue to be an important hub for wealth managers and private bankers.

Meanwhile, Mr Sejpal questioned whether views on what a wealth management hub are might change.

“As more and more transactional services are digitised and as a greater proportion of the UK’s wealth is spread across its regions, the concept of a ‘private banking hub’, for the domestic wealth management market particularly, may not mean what it used to.

“That said, London will always be a major player when it comes to financial services.

“London has a long history of reinvention and will continue to exert its financial muscle as it continues to attract the top minds with its supplementary benefits.”

While London may be attractive to financial services, many reports have suggested that – after many lockdowns – its residents are increasingly looking to move outside of the capital in favour of more space.

When asked if the regional drive was in part due to where high quality staff want to live, the firms were unanimous in saying it was not.

Instead, Mr Sejpal says staff now expect their employers to provide digital infrastructure, and the ability to conduct business in a way that suits their personal needs while allowing them to work better with their clients, who also now have less-predictable working patterns.

Both Mr Gee and Mr Eggar stressed that their expansion is driven primarily by increased client demand.

“What is clear is that there are high quality individuals available across the country, they’re not limited to London,” Mr Eggar concluded.