WH Ireland appoints new Head of Wealth Management, Michael Bishop, to lead next phase of development

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Michael Bishop as Head of Wealth Management. Michael will lead the next phase of our development as we strive to lead our proposition with the very best wealth planning capability whilst providing independent financial advice and discretionary investment management.

Michael brings significant experience of building and running substantial wealth management businesses, having previously been a senior member of UBS’s wealth management business for over 20 years. He started his wealth management career as a founding employee of UBS’s UK domestic wealth management business in 2000; having grown UBS’s business in the UK, he spent two years in Switzerland integrating the teams covering origination, investment and client relationships across the UK business. He then developed an Institutional Family Office business whilst being responsible for UBS’s Ultra High Net Worth teams across Northern Europe.

Phillip Wale, CEO at WH Ireland, said:

“I am very pleased to welcome Michael to the team. Michael brings with him great experience and expertise that matches our requirements. We have grown discretionary assets under management significantly, successfully completed our first acquisition and are strengthening our customer proposition to create real differentiation.

His time at UBS across a number of different disciplines has given Michael a strong understanding of client needs, and we look forward to leveraging that expertise as we further enhance and differentiate our proposition of high quality capabilities, product and service based around best in class wealth planning.

We expect Michael’s appointment to enable us to make further progress towards delivering our ambition to manage at least £3bn of discretionary funds under management.”

Michael Bishop, newly appointed Head of Wealth Management at WH Ireland, said:

“I am delighted to be joining WH Ireland at this opportune time; the team has made real progress in establishing a platform for growth and in developing a discretionary wealth management proposition that is now delivering strong inflows.

However, there remains much work to do, particularly as we focus on accelerating our path to sustainable growth and profitability, and in time to exceed our current targets, supported by a strengthened financial position to underpin organic and acquisition investment.

There is an exciting opportunity to continue the development of a genuinely differentiated wealth management business at WH Ireland and I am looking forward to working with the team to do just that.”

Phillip Wale, CEO at WH Ireland, said:

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Stephen Ford for his significant contribution to the progress made at WH Ireland, having made great strides in reducing risk whilst establishing a robust platform on which to grow. He should be proud of what he has helped to achieve and we are all very grateful to him for his invaluable contribution to this phase of our development. We wish Stephen all the best for the future.”