He pointedly does not place a timeframe on when he expects the £3bn target.
In terms of achieving at least some of the growth inorganically, he says: “We have both MPS and bespoke. Our view is that lots of clients have a view of the world and for those clients, the bespoke offering works, but other clients who don’t have a world view, the models are fine for them.
"We think ESG is an area of growth for the industry, but it probably needs a universal set of definitions. We have two model portfolios in that area, but where we want to get to is that a client can tell us their preferences regarding ESG and we create a portfolio around that.
"We haven’t launched a load of new products into the market as some of our peers have, but we are long-term believers in ESG despite the uncertainties of the past year.”
Although he plays down the differences, WH Ireland is a world away from a giant such as UBS, which is a relatively new kid on the block in the UK wealth market, but had enormous scale in the rest of its business.
But Bishop has an evident hunger to restore one of the City’s oldest firms to its former glory.
David Thorpe is investment editor of FTAdviser
