“What makes these crossovers so powerful is that they’re not just commercially valuable – they enhance the client experience, positioning us as a long-term partner,” Tangwena Nelson, managing director, head of asset and wealth managers, told WealthBriefing in a recent call. (He joined Lloyds last year from Investec.)

This point gains more force, it seems, as the “one-bank” model appears to be more successful in driving organic growth in wealth management and private banking than in a standalone model, according to a new report by , pure plays appear to outperform, with AuM growing at close to 8 per cent annually over the last decade, slightly ahead of the 7 per cent seen at universal banks. But that topline figure hides a deeper issue. Only 15 per cent of pure plays’ growth came from net new assets generated by existing advisors – compared with 32 per cent for universal banks." The report said universal banks have "built-in" advantages to help organic growth, such as internal referrals; retail banking channels; capital strength, and recognisable brands.

When co-operation inside a bank leads to cross-selling to clients, it can have its critics and defenders, but much depends on context and transparency. Given market uncertainties, the advantages of scale and cooperation between different segments of a bank seems to have a lot of traction. 

In April this year Lloyds Banking Group’s North American business appointed a corporate coverage and institutional coverage head, Farhad Merali. There is a level of overlap in client focus with private banking and wealth management, a spokesperson for the group told this news service when asked about the matter. 

Lloyds also has a wealth management channel in the form of Schroders Personal Wealth, a joint venture with UK-listed Schroders. It had more than £15.7 billion ($21.43 billion) in assets under management as of December 2024. Lloyds does not break out its wealth results. In its first-quarter results, issued in May, it reported an underlying profit of £1.532 billion, a fall of 13 per cent, but up 60 per cent from the final quarter of 2024.

Nelson said an important part of his role is leading coverage of Lloyds’ institutional clients. “Recently, we’ve been particularly focused on expanding our strategic engagement with institutionalised family offices, those with a professional investment team, who are increasingly behaving like traditional institutional investors,” he said.  

“These clients are increasing their exposure to alternative assets in pursuit of long-term yield and portfolio diversification. Lloyds is supporting this shift by helping them access high-quality private market opportunities, by leveraging the bank’s debt origination capabilities. This origination-led model allows us to provide clients with both investment access and execution aligned to their specific goals,” he said. 

We also continue to strengthen our risk management proposition, including our longstanding capabilities in sterling, while broadening our offering to support clients across multiple currencies and asset classes,” Nelson said. 

“These initiatives complement Lloyds’ institutional coverage strategy, which is focused on supporting clients across the full capital lifecycle. As the wealth management sector and institutional family offices grow in scale and sophistication, they are becoming increasingly influential players in global capital markets,” he continued.  

Nelson brings plenty of experience to the role. At Investec, he was most recently head of financial institutions coverage, a position he had held since February 2022. He has more than 20 years of broader banking experience, having previously helped grow the leveraged finance businesses at BAML and Barclays prior to joining Investec in September 2017.

Crossovers
Nelson is optimistic.

“The institutional ecosystem is evolving rapidly. We’re seeing increased consolidation and convergence across our sectors,” he said. “This evolution creates meaningful crossover opportunities within a large and diversified banking group like Lloyds. Wealth managers and institutional family offices are allocating more capital to private markets, seeking direct investments, and meaningful impact,” Nelson added.