Professional Independent Wealth Advice (PIWA), part of the now M&G Wealth-owned Sandringham Financial Partners, has hired a new joint CEO and new COO from Abrdn.

Peter Loughbridge has been appointed joint CEO alongside Neil Messenger, subject to regulatory approval.

Until September he was advice director at Abrdn Financial Planning. Previous roles included partner at Grant Thornton UK.

PIWA is based in Sheffield.

Mr Loughbridge said: “When I saw Neil had launched PIWA, I was keen to join. I've worked with him for twenty years, and to passionately build a business to do great things for clients and advisers, is our only focus.

“I look forward to working alongside Neil and Sarah to build on the firm's strong foundations and deliver outstanding results for our clients, with the added benefit of leveraging Sandringham’s tried and tested capabilities to enable us to scale at pace.”

Sarah Covey will join PIWA as chief operating officer.

She was formerly a business manager at Abrdn Financial Planning and also worked at Grant Thornton UK alongside Mr Loughbridge.

She left her previous role to focus on finishing her second book, which is now complete.

The two PIWA recruits are not the only hires M&G have made from Abrdn this week.

Ella Hugh, formerly group chief of staff and head of client proposition at Abrdn, has been appointed director of proposition and marketing of M&G Wealth.

She will take on responsibility for proposition and marketing as well as supporting the wider retail and savings business when she joins the firm in August.

PIWA is part of the Sandringham Financial Partners network, with the new firm having joined the network in March.

Sandringham is a fast-growing provider of independent financial advice, with more than 190 IFAs advising on assets of more than £3bn for more than 15,000 clients.

Sandringham is part of M&G Wealth, with M&G having paid £73m for the wealth manager and Financial Planner.

Sandringham added £2.5bn of assets under advice to M&G as well as 180 Sandringham advising partners and more than 10,000 individual clients. It's one of many acquisitions made by M&G in the past year as it seeks to become a major player in the wealth management sector.