Partner Article

Brewin targets younger traders

The region’s largest stockbroking operation has emerged from the recession with a plan to lure younger generations of Northeasterners into share trading.

Stockbroker and fund manager Brewin Dolphin, which employs 340 in Newcastle, is planning a number of measures that it hopes will tempt more younger – and not-so-rich – people into stock market investment.

The Newcastle branch is the third largest in the company’s portfolio of 40 offices nationally, and handles 14,000 clients – around 10,000 of which are from the North East.

However, as the company looks to grow and place itself on the frontline of the recovery, it is keen to significantly add to its client base.

The majority of the firm’s current clients are aged 50 and upwards and Brewin is now keen to welcome more people between 30 to 45 into its fold.

It believes the key to its future growth in the North East will be to encourage younger people who may only have as little as £10,000 to invest, that share trading is not beyond their means.

The company has launched a high profile marketing campaign aimed at removing the elitist reputation that market trading has among younger generations.

It will also be involved in a number of events in the region in coming months in collaboration with several organisations which are close to young professionals.

The company, which started life as Wise Speke before being taken over by Brewin, told bdaily that it has spent the last two years moving away from the old-fashioned tag associated with the original firm.

It has also managed to steer through the global financial crisis without making a single investment manager in Newcastle redundant – although there were some redundancies in non-customer facing roles.

This has come as the national group’s overall profits dipped by £10m to £21.9m between 2008 and 2009.

Business development and marketing director John Duns said the firm is now making a return to recruitment and has recently taken on several trainees.

He said: “We have to build our business for the future and we are seeking to attract young professionals as clients and consequently we are involved with the Young Professionals Forum.

“The Wise Speke image was very old fashioned but it’s not like that anymore. Two years ago we changed the name of the company to Brewin and moved premises in a recession. We’ve not made any front-office people redundant and we have just taken on a trio of trainees.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .