Company: AJ Bell
Personal AUM: £2bn
Company AUM: AJ Bell Asset Management: £9.5bn
Career history
Ian joined AJ Bell as head of investment partnerships in November 2024. His team manages over a dozen bespoke MPS for advised clients.
Prior to this role, he was head of manager selection and responsible investment at Barclays, having joined in 2016. There he led a team of ten covering over £15bn in equity funds, fixed income funds and liquid alternative funds, as well as being responsible for all aspects of ESG investing. The team managed a wide range of multi-asset class and single-asset class multi-manager portfolios.
Ian started his career as a UK equity fund manager with the CIS and then Rothschild Asset Management before moving into the multi-manager industry. He spent almost a decade with Skandia (now Quilter Investors) and then Aviva Investors, where he led the multi-manager team.
He has an MSc from Warwick University in Economics and Finance and a degree in Economics. He is also a member of both the CFA Institute and the CAIA and holds the CFA Certificate in ESG Investing.
Key areas of focus
Having taken on the team and book of clients at the end of 2024, my first year in the role saw me improve the current processes within my area. A good example of this was rolling out attribution analysis across the portfolios for the first time.
At the same time, the team had a number of client wins and so had the considerable task of onboarding several new relationships, taking the number of bespoke ranges to twice the number of just three years ago.
At the end of the year, a significant minority of the clients moved into liquid alternatives for the first time. This involved a considerable amount of education but is expected to further enhance their client proposition through additional diversification.
Throughout 2025, I continued to sit on the ACT Stewardship Council – seeking to help to make the industry a more diverse place. I also supported one of the younger members of my team by encouraging them to embark on the CFA qualification.
