Schroders Personal Wealth (SPW), the Financial Planning joint venture launched by Schroders and Lloyds Bank, has expanded into Leeds with the opening of an operational centre in the city centre.

The office will act as the regional hub to service SPW’s clients in Yorkshire and the North East.

SPW has recently established other offices and hubs in Cardiff, Bristol, Horsham, Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, Exeter and Manchester as the Financial Planning firm expands into regions across the UK.

An office in Birmingham is due to open in October.

Chris Lomas has been named as the regional director for the new Leeds hub. The former head of private banking for the north of England at Lloyds Banking Group joined SPW in June 2019.

The new offices form part of SPW’s long-term regional growth strategy to increase its presence across the UK.

Mark Duckworth, chief executive of Schroders Personal Wealth said: “The opening of our Leeds office shows our continued commitment to growing our business across the UK.

“We already have a number of well-established regional offices helping us to achieve our goal of bringing more advice to more people.

“Expanding our regional presence will ensure that our clients can benefit from a more personal and local experience, allowing them to develop strong relationships with our advisers and support teams within the region.”

Mr Duckworth, who was formerly the chief executive of advice network Openwork, became the firm's third chief executive in 12 months when he took up his role in September 2020. He replaced Peter Hetherington who stepped down recently to pursue other opportunities after eight months in the job. His predecessor James Rainbow moved to become Schroders’ UK and Latin America distribution head last October before returning temporarily as interim CEO after Mr Hetherington’s exit.

Schroders Personal Wealth has reiterated its ambition to become “a leading wealth management business in the UK” at several points during the past year.

The firm saw a 133% increase in referrals for the first half of 2021 (compared to H1 2020). The firm reported net inflows of £0.1bn, as the level of client referrals continued to increase.