Standard Life’s Financial Planning division 1825 has revealed a management shake up which will see Julie Scott, current chief operating officer, promoted to CEO and current CEO Steve Murray becoming chairman.

The company says the moves are designed to strengthen the “capacity and capability of its senior leadership team” as the business readies for further growth.

Mr Murray will take up the newly-created position of chairman while Ms Scott will take on the role of CEO and will continue to report to Mr Murray.

In addition, Michael Wall has been recruited from Old Mutual Wealth to join the 1825 senior leadership team today, with an initial focus on business development across all the Financial Planning firms under the 1825 brand. Both Mr Murray and Ms Scott will continue to sit on the Standard Life executive committee.

Since returning to Standard Life nearly three years ago Ms Scott has held a number of senior roles. She was part of the team that launched 1825 which now has over 70 Financial Planners and has acquired several Financial Planning firms in recent years. It has over 8,500 clients.

Ms Scott began her career as a Financial Planner and has worked across different areas, leading teams in regulated sales, customer service, operations and HR.

Mr Wall joins 1825 from Old Mutual Wealth where he was a regional director based in West Yorkshire. Approaching 40 years’ experience in the industry, he has held a variety of senior roles with a number of firms including Openwork, Berry Birch and Noble FS and Sedgwick, as well as a period of running his own consultancy firm.

Mr Murray will continue to support the growth strategy of 1825 and will also take on the wider role of managing director, Commercial and Strategy for Standard Life where he will work on commercial decision making and leading a number of strategic initiatives.

Mr Murray said: “I’m delighted to be taking on the role of chairman of 1825 helping its continued strategic development as well as the broader commercial and strategy role in Standard Life. With 1825 now firmly established as a UK-wide Financial Planning business with over 8,000 clients and AUA of £3.4bn we are looking to move to the next phase of development. Our acquisition pipeline is very healthy and we continue to explore exciting opportunities.

“Julie is well established within 1825 and extremely well placed to take over the day to day running of the business. Michael’s experience across different Financial Planning organisations and his spell running his own consultancy, will add an extra dimension to the leadership team and will offer us invaluable insight within 1825, ensuring we are well positioned to take advantage of opportunities available to us as we grow the business.”



Ms Scott, 1825 CEO, said: “It’s an exciting time to be part of the team at 1825 as we continue to grow and go from strength to strength. I’m looking forward to taking on my new role and continuing to have a close working relationship with Steve. We have worked hard to establish a successful business and to bring fresh thinking to Financial Planning, ensuring more people get a great outcome as a result.”