Wealth manager Evelyn Partners has appointed former Direct Line chief executive Paul Geddes as its new CEO, replacing Chris Woodhouse who is retiring.

The appointment is subject to regulatory approval.

Mr Geddes will join the business on 3 July to replace Mr Woodhouse who has spent five and a half years at the helm.

Mr Woodhouse oversaw the merger of Tilney and Smith & Williamson to create Evelyn Partners, one of the UK’s biggest wealth managers. During his tenure assets under management have grown from £23.5bn in 2017 to £54.4bn (as at 31 March). The group also includes hybrid and online investment firm Bestinvest and has made numerous acquisitions of Financial Planning firms.

Mr Geddes will work with Mr Woodhouse during a summer handover period.

Mr Geddes has worked in business for 33 years, the last 15 in CEO roles. He joins Evelyn Partners from QA Group where he has been CEO since 2019. QA is a provider of higher education and workforce learning programmes and services and is owned by private equity group CVC Capital Partners.

Before QA he spent spent 10 years as CEO of insurance company Direct Line until 2019. He was previously the CEO of the insurance division of the Royal Bank of Scotland, which included the Direct Line, Churchill, Privilege, Green Flag and NIG brands and was responsible for splitting the division off from the bank and leading the successful IPO of Direct Line Group in 2012. While at Direct Line, he was a member of the FCA Practitioner Panel and Deputy Chair of the Association of British Insurers.

He began his financial services career with RBS in 2004, eventually becoming CEO of the retail bank in the UK mainland, including NatWest, and a member of the RBS Group Executive Committee, and then CEO of the Insurance Division. Before joining RBS, he held a number of marketing roles with retail brands and is an Oxford graduate.

Chris Grigg, chair of Evelyn Partners, said: “We are delighted that Paul is joining Evelyn Partners as our new chief executive officer. He is a highly accomplished business leader who brings a wealth of experience in financial services, a record of embracing technological innovation, a depth of experience in marketing and developing talent.

“He joins the business at a very exciting time with great opportunities ahead. In recent years, the business has completed a major integration, successfully rebranded, developed an unrivalled range of services, invested heavily in digital transformation and it has also delivered consistent, strong organic growth. Paul joins a great team, and I would like to pay tribute to Chris for the huge contribution he has made to the success of the business over the last five and half years.”  

Mr Geddes said: “I am extremely excited to be joining Evelyn Partners to lead the next stage of its journey, building on the terrific work that everyone in the business has achieved under Chris’s leadership since 2017. It’s already clear to me that Evelyn Partners is a group with a proud past, but focused on the future, made up of outstanding professionals who deliver excellent outcomes in multiple disciplines to a diverse range of clients.  I am relishing the opportunity to meet as many colleagues as possible across the group in my first few months as we work together on the next stage of our growth strategy.”

Mr Woodhouse said: “It has been a real privilege to have worked with such a talented team of people over these last five and a half years. Together we have achieved a huge amount in terms of the strategic transformation and growth of the business. This is a testament to the hard work and commitment of our exceptional people and our culture of putting clients at the centre of everything we do.

"I am confident that Evelyn Partners will continue to go from strength to strength in the years ahead. I leave Evelyn Partners in good hands and wish Paul and everyone at the group every success as they take the business on to the next stage of its development.”