Coutts, the wealth management division of Royal Bank of Scotland, will increasingly be looking for investment professionals when taking on new recruits in the future.

Coutts, the wealth management division of Royal Bank of Scotland, will increasingly be looking for investment professionals when taking on new recruits in the future.

The firm is a venerable private bank but as part of its new identity as the wealth management arm of RBS, Coutts wants to broaden the spectrum when looking for new talent.

That was one of the messages conveyed by chief executive Rory Tapner when he hosted an event for headhunters in London recently. “A key message is that we want people to invest with us, not just bank with us,” Jonathan Briggs, head of resourcing at Coutts, told this publication.

Briggs, who arranged the event at the wealth manager’s iconic head office at the Strand, is keen to emphasise that the new strategy at Coutts is about giving investment advice rather than pushing products. He believes that sharing the new strategy directly with search consultants will give the firm an edge when hiring people: “Really good people in the wealth management space will be contacted by headhunters and the key thing is that the people who are contacted believe in what we are doing,” Briggs says.