Reading: Coutts opens office for high-net-worths

Coutts & Co has announced plans to open a regional office at Abbey Gardens in the centre of Reading this Autumn. The new office marks the continued expansion of Coutts throughout the UK, including new offices in the ‘Gherkin’ in London and Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, which have also been announced today.

Recent research conducted on behalf of Coutts suggests that the Reading postcode region* is already home to over 8,000 potential millionaires**.

There is also a higher than average population of entrepreneurs and now the rapid growth of financial services and technology companies in the region, mean that the area - dubbed the UK’s ‘silicon valley’ - has become a haven for millionaires of the future.

This is the third wave of Coutts’ regional expansion plan, which has

increased the numbers of private bankers working from its offices outside of London by 60% - in some cases doubling local teams.

Nigel Hawkins, senior manager at Coutts & Co, commented: “Reading is the largest town in the South East, with the fastest growing local economy in the country since 1999 which is why we’re delighted to be opening an office in this exciting new location. We already have over 1,000 clients in the area, but the arrival of large international companies has seen a plethora of highly affluent professionals flooding into the area which is why it’s vital that we have a local presence with private bankers who are easily accessible.

“The people we have identified in this survey are the millionaires of the future”, said Nigel. “They are typically company directors, or partners in professional practices, whose earnings and assets, by way of shareholdings and dividends, for example, by far exceed what they could expect to earn purely from salary.

“Receiving expert wealth management advice will be crucial if they are to achieve their full wealth potential, and our new offices will help us to reach and assist them from a location local to where they live.”

“These new offices are a fantastic reflection of the regional expansion programme in which we have invested over the last few years. We want to be accessible and geographically close to our clients. Where our competitors are only now beginning to move back into regional private banking, many having exited in 2002/3, Coutts is reaping the rewards of its long-term commitment to the UK regions, which now represent the fastest growing part of our business. Year on year we have grown private banker numbers and are

delighted to see this programme of expansion continue into new areas.”