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We have got some big city stories coming
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up today and luckily to get stuck in we
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have our trusty squire of the square
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mile, Mr. Simon Hunt.
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>> Welcome back once again.
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>> First up Simon, it's been a tough week
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for Rathbones. How has the investment
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firm fallen on the wrong side of the
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>> Yeah, yeah, huge trouble for Rathbones
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at the moment. Their shares tumbled 15%
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>> Ooh, would we call that a crater?
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>> I I think that's a full a full crater,
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They revealed that after
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discussions with the FCA they have now
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suspended inflows for thousands of their
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>> Is is it like is it enhanced due
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>> Yeah, so the these accounts are known as
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enhanced due diligence customers and
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they're basically the the wealthiest of
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their customers, the people with a lot
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of assets. So these account holders are
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by far the the most valuable group of
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customers that Rathbones has. They said
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yesterday that together these several
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thousand accounts contribute more than
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half a billion to their net inflows and
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that is all net inflows that's now been
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suspended. So all these customers cannot
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add any more to their accounts.
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>> It looks well this is a two-year
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remediation program by the looks of it
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in response to this FCA probe. I suppose
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what can they do in the meantime?
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>> Well, I mean the good news is that the
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vast majority of their account holders
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aren't affected so they will continue
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business as usual as it were.
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>> It's all on boarding new ones and these
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special accounts that contribute a lot
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of their inflows that they're sort of a
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banned [snorts] effectively for the for
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at least a year from adding any any more
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to their accounts and you know there is
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a danger there that these customers will
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just say okay well I'll go somewhere
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else then and shut their accounts down
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and and set one up with a rival.
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>> Do they have a a lot of rivals to pick
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>> They certainly do. I mean wealth
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management is a big part of what the
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city does now. There are several London
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list London listed wealth managers,
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asset managers. And so I suspect, you
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know, when you look at some of those
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high net worth customers, the ones that
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are the most valuable, the ones that a
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lot of wealth managers are really going
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after at the moment, these customers who
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have had issues with their with their
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accounts where they can't contribute
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anymore, I would imagine those wealth
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managers are now knocking on their door
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saying, "Hey guys, you want to come over
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>> It feels like a very long time ago that
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if I had half a billion quid lying
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around, I would just go straight to
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Coutts and that would be my sort of only
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kind of avenue, but now seems like
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everyone and and their mum in the city
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is is out for these sorts of high net
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>> Yeah, yeah, and actually Coutts has now
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upped the bar for the minimum
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contribution you have to make into your
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account before you can sign up.
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>> From what was it? 1 million to 3 million
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now, I think it is. So that So people
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within that bracket are also up for
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grabs from the other wealth managers.
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>> I mean, there are even fintech banks now
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which are trying to have wealth
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offerings. So I know that Revolut is at
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the moment. I'd say I mean, just
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completely anecdotally, I walked past
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the Coutts office the other day. Not as
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grand as I thought it might be.
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>> Really? You've not seen it on the Strand
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>> Well, I mean, I I have now and not as
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grand as I thought it would be.
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>> I think the interior is nicer than the
