NatWest Acquires Evelyn Partners

The acquisition increases NatWest's exposure to a high growth, capital light segment (private banking and wealth management).

Evelyn Partners has a 180 year history and oversees £69bn in Assets under Management and Administration ("AUMA"), with an AUMA CAGR greater than 7%. This is a massive addition to NatWest.

Evelyn Partners Sells EPFS (Employee Benefits Arm) to Howden, Refocus on Private Wealth

Private wealth manager Evelyn Partners is selling Evelyn Partners Financial Services, EPFS, to Howden, a global insurance intermediary, to refocus the firm on its core competency of wealth management. 

38 employees in the Employee Benefits department will transfer in the first quarter of 2026.

Evelyn Partners' CEO, Paul Geddes (former CEO of FTSE-250 firm Direct Line, acquired by Aviva on 1 July 2025) remarked appreciatively:

 "Howden will be a great long-term owner".

Evelyn has a 10-member Executive Management team headed by by Paul, covering areas like Finance, Financial Planning (led by Emma Sterland, ex-HSBC private bank), Risk and Compliance and Marketing. Technology comes under COO Bahador Mahvelati.

Evelyn is the third biggest UK wealth manager by AUM: in order - 

• St James' Place Wealth Management (£160bn+)
• Rathbones Group (£60bn+)
• Evelyn Partners (£60bn+), formerly Tilney Smith & Williamson

RBC Brewin Dolphin (under RBC) and Coutts (part of the NatWest Group) with £40bn come next.

Julius Baer loan losses of $184m Added

Julius Baer has completed a credit review - which has led to a decision to manage down a subset of its loan positions, primarily in income-producing residential and commercial real estate.

The Lombard loan book and the traditional residential mortgage portfolio are resilient.

Lombard loans (also known as margin loans) are a type of secured loan where liquid assets (securities, bank balances) are pledged as collateral, typically granted to private wealth clients.  These loans may be significantly over-collateralized with liquid assets  - thus reducing risk to the lender.

The name is taken from the Lombards of Northern Italy, who first established the conventions of banking in the Middle Ages.

Benefits to banks are a relatively low-risk stream of additional income, while strengthening ties with important high net worth customers.

"We are now entirely aligned around our core wealth management proposition," CEO Stefan Bollinger said. Stefan started his career at Zurcher Kantonalbank as an interest rates derivatives trader.

He has introduced new measures since joining, including reducing the size of the executive board from 15 to 5, streamlined regional setup and is introducing efficiency measures.

Julius Baer is headquartered in Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich (a popular shopping street, largely pedestrianised). Key metrics including assets under management (497bn CHF for Dec24), and net new money (CHF bn) and total assets (CHF m) can be found on their financial information webpage.