Moneyfarm developed the investment app for M&G Wealth. The app was launched in January.

Saxo, which is the custodian bank for Moneyfarm, provides technological infrastructure that allows customers to gain access to global capital markets.

Investors now have access to actively managed funds, investing in equities, bonds and alternatives, from investment managers such as Wellington, Federated Hermes and First Sentier.

Christine Kiener, head of institutional sales at Saxo UK, said: “Over the past eight years, we’ve built a strong and successful partnership with Moneyfarm. We were delighted to support Moneyfarm in the launch of their new proposition, delivering mutual fund portfolios to M&G Wealth &me customers.”

Giovanni Dapra, chief executive at Moneyfarm said: “Our ongoing partnership with Saxo combines the scale and experience of an established player with the nimble and innovative nature of a digital fintech business. We were excited to partner with Saxo on this project and were delighted by the speed and efficiency of delivery.”

This comes a year after M&G acquired a minority stake in digital wealth manager Moneyfarm.

This comes after M&G acquired a minority stake in Moneyfarm in January 2022, and as part of the deal, the two entered into a partnership for the creation of the app.

The investment app called &me was developed in nine months for the wealth giant and will be available via Android, iOS or as a web app.

The two companies said the solution wants to target a “new generation of savers” with a “digital-first investing experience”.

Moneyfarm will provide the marketing coordination services, as well as operate the core platform, provide relationship management, portfolio management and investment advice services to &me customers. M&G Wealth, on the other hand, will offer advice to Moneyfarm on the composition and rebalancing of the risk weighted portfolios.

Growth

Giovanni Daprà, co-founder and chief executive at Moneyfarm, said: “Moneyfarm was launched to help make investing more accessible, simple and transparent. As part of this we have been growing our B2B2C partnerships and leveraging our API capabilities. This has been very successful in Italy and already embedded into the propositions of Poste Italiane, Unicredit’s Buddybank and Banca Sella, serving thousands of customers.

“In the UK we are very excited to launch our first partnership with M&G and look forward to helping many more savers in their digital wealth journey.”

Daniel Giddings, head of business development UK at Moneyfarm, added: “To bring a bespoke ‘platform as a service’ solution and new brand to market in just nine months is almost unheard of. We have offered full flexibility of approach in the launch of &me and provided a fully outsourced solution. &me brings together Moneyfarm’s best-in-class technology, M&G Wealth’s investment expertise and the all-important human touch provided by the dedicated &me investment consultants.

“The platform uses an algorithm when clients go through the onboarding process and a suitable portfolio is advised upon. This is based on the customer’s specific risk appetite, financial knowledge and financial situation. What was most important for M&G was to have the human touch and we have provided dedicated &me consultants that clients are able to reach out to in a way that suits them, by phone, in-app, webchat or video calls, supporting them with their portfolio, the wider market or building their investment plan.

“Moneyfarm is focused on delivering for our partners and continuing to evolve our proposition and developing our B2B2C solutions is a key area of growth for our business.”

Head of responsible investment Ben Palmer is set to leave the company in March 2023 after more than a decade.

He joined the investment manager in 2011 as a trainee and took on his current role in August 2020.

BW Sipp

Simon Foster will become chief executive of BW Sipp – Barnett Waddingham’s Sipp business – subject to regulatory approval.

He has worked at the company for three years as head of proposition and implementation. Prior to that, he had been with Zurich for 27 years.

Moneyfarm

The digital wealth manager has named dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia as chair.

She is the founder and executive chair of fintech firm Snoop and was the chief executive of Virgin Money between 2007 and 2018.

She is also chair of HMRC and a director at UniCredit.

Now: Pensions

Claire Bowyer has been promoted to deputy chief executive of the pension provider, part of the Cardano Group.

She has been with the group since 2009 and will continue to be group partner, director and general counsel.

Blackfinch

The investment manager has named Nicholas French as chief distribution officer.

He joins from Marlborough Group, where he served as head of adviser solutions and chief executive of the Select platform for three years.

Carey Olsen

The offshore law firm has promoted Alexa Saunders to head of trusts and private wealth in Jersey.

She joined the firm in 2011 and has been a partner within the trusts and private wealth team since 2016.

Nomura Asset Management

Julian Marks has become head of hybrid bonds within the asset manager’s fixed income team, based in London.

He spent the last 15 years at Neuberger Berman where he was the lead portfolio manager for the corporate hybrid bond strategy.

Channel Capital Advisors

The UK fund manager has appointed Bhoomika Kesaria as head of investor relations.

She joins from fintech investor firm Lendable.

Saffery Champness

The accountancy firm has made a series of hires and promotions across its Guernsey and Geneva offices.

Dominic Lawton-Smith joins as trust director from Crestbridge where he led the Cayman private client business.

Additionally, Sally Hunt and Sophie Walden have become senior trust officer and compliance manager, respectively, in Guernsey.

Also in Guernsey, Claire Tersigni and Simon Ricketts have been promoted to trust managers; Lily Simmons and Denise Brehaut to senior trust officers; and Caitlin Le Gallez to people and culture officer.

In Geneva, Alexia Laird and Saskia Scheelbeek have both been promoted to trust officers.

Tellworth Investments

The UK specialist equity asset manager has recruited Jamie Seed as an investment analyst.

Seed was previously at Jeffreries and Numis and specialises in UK large and mid-cap companies.

The acquisition will add 24,000 clients and £870m ($1bn, €1bn) in assets under management.

Profile Pension provides pension advice, tracing and consolidation services. It received investment from venture capital business Smedvig Capital in 2015 to boost its growth plans.

The deal will be financed by Moneyfarm’s shareholders – M&G, Poste Italiane, Cabot Square Capital, United Ventures and Fondazione di Sardegna.

As part of the deal, Smedvig will also become a minority shareholder in the European wealth manager.

The acquisition is expected to close in H1 2023, subject to regulatory approvals.

Consolidation

Giovanni Daprà, co-founder and chief executive at Moneyfarm, said: “Profile Pensions gives flexibility to pensions investing as it allows you to track down your pensions, identify which investments are suitable for you, and manage them in a way that’s more aligned to your circumstances thanks to the unique digital ‘whole of market’ advice capabilities.

“Through the acquisition of Profile Pensions, Moneyfarm will create an even greater opportunity for our clients to maximise the long-term value of their assets by allowing them to easily consolidate their pensions investments alongside their normal investment, Isa and Sipp accounts, setting Moneyfarm apart from any other platform in the UK.

“This acquisition is another testament to our ambitions, helping us consolidate our market position even in a challenging business environment”.

Jordan Mayo, chief executive of Profile Pensions, added: “As an independent company, we have grown organically to approximately £870m of AuM on the strength of our technology and service.

“We are delighted to become part of Moneyfarm, and to combine our pensions platform with Moneyfarm’s brand, scale and broader product offering to create the clear independent UK leader in digital investment advice.”

The capital increase was led by M&G and included postal service provider Poste Italiane, which has been a minority shareholder in Moneyfarm since 2019.

The private placement will be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2022, subject to regulatory approvals and will see investment giant M&G acquire a minority stake in Moneyfarm for an undisclosed sum.

The funding round will be used in three key areas, to support future development, expanding its product proposition and building out its new B2B2C proposition through strategic partnerships.

Since it launched in 2012, Moneyfarm has raised £139m.

Partnership

Also, M&G has partnered with Moneyfarm to provide a direct investment service to UK consumers.

M&G Wealth, the company’s UK wealth management arm, will use Moneyfarm’s existing technology, digital capabilities and investment guidance journeys to back its own branded proposition.

Designed by M&G Wealth, the direct digital service will be tailored to meet a range of customer risk appetites and profiles through a collection of multi-asset model portfolios, backed by a selection of actively-managed and passive funds.

MoneyFarm will deliver the operating models, including teams to support the technology platform and customer relationship management, together with custody and trading services.

Also, M&G and Moneyfarm said they will also explore a range of other opportunities to partner in other European wealth markets.

Serve next-gen

David Montgomery, managing director at M&G Wealth, said: “With the launch of a direct, mobile-based investment platform, complementing our growing independent, proprietary and hybrid adviser businesses, our customers will be able to access the channel, advice and investment proposition that most suits their financial situation and needs.

“We have been highly impressed by Moneyfarm’s innovative approach and look forward to working together to build a simple and effective proposition to serve our next generation of retail customers.”

Giovanni Daprà, chief executive at Moneyfarm, said: “Moneyfarm was founded in 2012 on the core principle that personal investing should be simple and accessible to anyone to help improve their financial wellbeing.

“Having launched in the UK five years ago, we are very excited to be partnering with a proven name in M&G on the next stage of our journey.”

Direct channel growth

Holly Mackay, Boring Money chief executive, added: “The last two years have seen such significant growth in the direct channel, it can no longer be ignored by asset managers.

“Alongside execution-only journeys, the need for digital advice and lower-cost fixed fee advice packages for specific life events is clear, and I think we will see many more asset managers go back into both ‘ready-made’ investment solutions and convenient, digitally-delivered advice.

“The challenge, as ever, is that asset managers have an institutional mindset, not a consumer mindset, and so partnership feels like the right approach. There’s a reason that Audi’s engineers are not in charge of product and marketing.”