Succession Wealth has appointed Roger Marsden, managing director, retail UK savings and retirement at Aviva, to become its new CEO.

Financial Planning-focused Succession was acquired by Aviva for £385m in March 2022.

Mr Marsden will replace James Stevenson who is moving on from the company to pursue interests outside financial services. He has been CEO of Succession Wealth, set up by the late entrepreneur Simon Chamberlain, for six years.

James Stevenson took over as CEO of Succession Wealth in January 2018 and oversaw the sale of the business to Aviva.

Mr Marsden will take up his new role on 1 Feb subject to regulatory approval.

Mr Marsden has held senior roles in retail wealth and retirement businesses for many years. Before joining Aviva, he worked at Barclays Capital and Deloitte, where he qualified as a chartered accountant.

Michele Golunska, MD of wealth and advice at Aviva, said: “I am delighted to welcome Roger Marsden as the new CEO of Succession Wealth.

“We have ambitious growth plans for our advice business and I am confident that Roger will lead our strong team in Succession Wealth to continue to drive the business forward. I also want to thank James for the fantastic job he has done in growing Succession Wealth and then overseeing the integration with Aviva over the last 18 months. I wish him the best as he takes an exciting new direction.”

Mr Stevenson said: “Being part of helping build Succession Wealth and seeing it go from strength to strength over the last nine years has been a tremendous privilege and I am very proud of everything our colleagues have achieved. With Succession Wealth now settled in its new home with Aviva, I feel now is the time to focus on new things. I look forward to seeing the business continue to grow and build under Roger's leadership, offering our clients a range of valued advice services."

Aviva acquired Financial Planning-focused Succession Wealth for £385 million as part of a major move into the UK wealth management market.

At the time of the takeover, Aviva said that by 2039 it is expected that one in four people in the UK will be over 65 and millions more will need advice.

Aviva added that the Succession deal would give it the scope to offer “high-quality advice” to its approximately 4 million workplace pension customers as well as approximately 2 million individual pensions and savings customers, focusing on customers who do not currently have an adviser. 

Succession has grown rapidly in recent years, organically and through acquisitions. It is a national IFA with approximately 200 Financial Planners advising on about £9.5 billion of assets. It has 19,000 clients in the UK. It has acquired 60 Financial Planning or financial advice firms.