Progeny Group is on the growth path

Fast growing Progeny Group is bucking the trend for consolidation in the wealth management industry by building its business as fast as it can. Managing director Neil Moles is driven by the belief that financial services should be a profession, offering professional services. He did a management buy-out of his previous firm Lawrence Scoffield back in 2008, driven by a need to see change.

“I had a vision for what financial services should look like and it wasn’t being delivered in the right way,” Moles says.

April last year saw him establish Progeny Group. “I wanted to move that business along. I was proud of it in terms of wealth management and wanted to go to the next stage but we were lacking integrated services for high net worth individuals.”

The result is Progeny Group which encompasses four parts: Progeny Wealth, originally Lawrence Scoffield; Progeny Private Law; Progeny Corporate Law and Progeny Asset Management.

The new firm is not publishing its assets under management yet and has clients around the country and offices in Leeds and London. The client base is 50/50 split between the north and the south.

“We sought a lot of feedback from clients before we started on what their experiences have been of professional services. Many were disappointed at the lack of joined-up advice between legal and wealth management sectors. Our unique offering is that we are delivering complex legal and wealth management advice under one group.”

Progeny is also trying to achieve transparency on fees. “We have got to be there helping clients and managing the cost,” he says. He doesn’t publish fees but he says they are very clear on what they will charge. Legal fees are not on a per hour basis, but on a project basis.

“Our perfect client is someone who is high net worth, who needs complex advice, because they have been a business owner or have had a wealth creation event.”

It was the Alternative Business Structure that allowed non-lawyers to own law firms that lies behind the foundation of Progeny.
In terms of corporate law, the firm advises on general business activity such as purchases or restructuring and commercial and residential real estate law is undertaken in the corporate team as well.

Moles says his group is quite acquisitive and about to close on the purchase of another London-based wealth management business in quarter one of this year.
“If it’s a good time to consolidate it becomes expensive but we are trying to bring in like-minded people. It’s an exciting time for financial services,” Moles says. “When I sat down 15 years ago and thought what should a financial services firm look like, I felt it should become a profession and the governing bodies are doing a good job of improving the levels of qualifications and standing in the industry. Over the next few years we can give better confidence to the consumer that wealth management is a profession.”