50 jobs to go in Brooks Macdonald ‘streamlining’ plan

Caroline Connellan

The firm said it expects the changes to cost £3m – a one-off expense which it intends to exclude from its reported underlying profit – and comes in response to clients’ and advisers’ needs and will make it easier for advisers to do business with the firm.

The company said it identified “a range opportunities to streamline and remove duplication from its core processes”, for example centralising client account opening and client reporting.

These proposed changes, which the firm will consult on with its staff today, will lead to some 50 redundancies, mainly in administration and IT areas.

The changes will lead to an annual cost saving of around £4m, according to the company’s estimates.

Brooks Macdonald chief executive Caroline Connellan, said: “As part of the next phase of our strategy, as outlined at our annual results, we are focussed on driving medium-term margin improvement as well as making Brooks Macdonald easier to deal with for both clients and advisers.

“The changes we are announcing will make us more responsive to changing client and adviser needs, and help deliver greater value from our future growth.

“We regret the need to make redundancies and those people who leave the business will do so with both our thanks for their contribution and our best wishes.”