Tilney Smith & Williamson sets out mission to ‘place the power of good advice into more hands’

Tilney Smith & Williamson, the wealth management and professional services group, is this month marking its first anniversary having completed the merger of Tilney and Smith & Williamson 12 months ago on 1 September 2020. In conjunction with this key milestone it has also publicly set out a new statement of purpose for the group; to ‘place the power of good advice into more hands’.

As revealed in its interim results last month, the combined business has got off to a strong start, with gross inflows of £3.2 billion in the first half of 2021, assets climbing to £54.8 billion at 30 June and a strong pipeline of new business across both its financial services and professional services divisions. The business has also reported that the integration is ahead of plan, with teams and processes combined and a busy programme of digital innovation. The business has also been actively hiring new professional services partners and directors, financial planners, investment managers and business development professionals as it eyes strong growth opportunities.

But alongside these developments, a fundamental component of the integration has been to develop and agree a clear statement of Purpose and corresponding set of Values for the combined business. This has been the culmination of a comprehensive programme of engagement with colleagues from across the business.

Tilney Smith & Williamson’s chosen purpose to “place the power of good advice into more hands” succinctly encapsulates the group’s central mission of supporting both individuals and businesses to achieve their goals. It is also a marker of the group’s aspirations and ambition to reach a wider universe of clients as it continues to grow and develops new services that will be accessible to a wider cross section of the population.

In delivering its purpose, Tilney Smith & Williamson have set out three core values that it is committed to embedding in the culture of the business:

• Personal — we treat you as an individual: We are a people business at heart and strive to deliver a friendly, inclusive and personalised service to all of our clients, large and small.
  
  
• Partnership — we go further together: We develop relationships that stand the test of time, spanning multiple generations. We partner across the full breadth of our expertise to create value for our clients, our company and society at large.
  
  
• Performance — we strive for more: We are ambitious for our clients and for ourselves, so we aim to be a forward-thinking and innovative business that leads the way in the industry.

Chris Woodhouse, Chief Executive of Tilney Smith & Williamson, commented:

“We believe that a strong culture, based on a shared sense of purpose and values is imperative to the success of a business. As we said when we first announced the planned merger, the cultural fit was an important consideration. Both previous businesses had a strong ethos of professionalism and putting the interests of clients first, which was a fantastic starting point as we have brought the two firms together.

“Our purpose and values reflect our unique combination of Financial Services and Professional Services, our depth of expertise and the breadth of our offering from supporting clients at the start of their financial lives making their first investments online, through to wealthy individuals with complex affairs, as well as businesses with a wide range of needs and challenges. The launch of the new purpose and values has been incredibly well received within the business and over the coming months further work will be undertaken to bring these to life in everything we do.”