Financial planning group Fidelius has hired Neil Buckland, former head of sales at Octopus Investments, as head of commercial.
In his new role with Fidelius, Buckland will be responsible for driving growth through the sales teams of the firm’s four business propositions: wealth management, employee benefits, corporate wealth and mortgages.
Based in Fidelius’ Bath headquarters, Buckland will support the firm’s offices around the country and will report to chief executive, Jim Grant.
Buckland was at Octopus for more than 12 years and in that time oversaw growth in assets from £1bn to £12bn while growing the sales team from around a dozen staff to a team of 110.
Prior to that, he spent more than 20 years at Allied Dunbar/Zurich where he held a number of roles, including adviser, sales trainer, and business and management development consultant. For the final 10 years at Zurich, he ran half of the firm’s 200 strong IFA consultant team and set up its telephone sales function.
Speaking about the appointment, Grant said Buckland has been well-known throughout the industry for many years and fills a crucial role in the business as it looks to “organically grow” its four core business propositions.
Grant added: “Neil brings a wealth of management experience, market knowledge, and the ability to develop people and execute plans for the business. His reputation, expertise and relationships built over many years, will help us service many more clients through these distinct channels.”
Buckland takes on the role from Duncan McKillop, who has been promoted to director of corporate development and will be responsible for driving a new acquisition proposition for Fidelius.
McKillop said he was excited to begin his new role as Fidelius enters the next phase of its development.
“We have a long history of acquiring high quality advice businesses and with a range of technology driven services, we can be an extremely attractive option for business owners who want to expand their businesses without resorting to private equity,” he said.
Grant added: “The coming years will be an exciting period for Fidelius Group, as we look forward to bringing more financial planning businesses into the group to help them build further and to realise their value in the short or longer term alongside our fantastic team.”
Fidelius Group has circa £1.75bn under advice and 150 staff based at its offices in Bath, Chelmsford, Cheltenham, Mansfield and London.
jane.matthews@ft.com
