EFG International has agreed to sell the client assets and front-office teams of its Harris Allday business to Canaccord Wealth as both groups reshape their positions in the UK wealth-management market.
Harris Allday manages approximately £3.1bn of client assets and generated £20.3m of revenue in 2025. The business has 77 full-time-equivalent employees and operates primarily from Birmingham, with additional locations in Shrewsbury and London.
Financial terms have not been disclosed. EFG expects the disposal to increase group profit before tax by approximately CHF20m in the second half of 2026 and add around 30 basis points to its common equity tier one capital ratio.
The transaction is expected to complete during the fourth quarter, subject to the necessary conditions.
Harris Allday is part of EFG Private Bank, the Swiss group’s UK subsidiary. Its client base is primarily affluent individuals and families, while EFG intends to concentrate its UK operations more closely on high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth private banking and wealth management.
EFG’s remaining UK region has more than £20bn of assets under management, making the disposal a narrowing of its target market rather than an exit from Britain.
Canaccord Wealth will gain additional client assets, advisers, relationships, and regional scale in the Midlands, where it already has an established presence.
Harris Allday has operated for more than 175 years and was acquired by EFG in 2006. Its longevity and regional client relationships give the transaction a different character from acquisitions built principally around digital customer books or centralised investment platforms.
The deal extends consolidation across wealth management, where operating scale has become increasingly valuable as companies absorb investment in technology, regulation, adviser support, investment research, cyber resilience, and more sophisticated client reporting.
Many of those costs are relatively fixed. A larger asset base can therefore improve the economics of compliance and infrastructure, provided an acquisition retains advisers and clients through the integration process.
Retention is particularly important in wealth management because a large proportion of the commercial value rests on relationships. A transaction can transfer client accounts and front-office teams, but future revenue depends on whether clients remain comfortable with the acquiring organisation, its service model, investment proposition, and individual advisers.
Regional presence can consequently carry strategic value. Harris Allday’s Midlands concentration means Canaccord is adding scale in a geography where it already operates rather than entering an unfamiliar market solely through acquisition.
The transaction also reflects increasing segmentation within private wealth. EFG is choosing to direct its UK capital and management attention towards high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients, while Harris Allday’s predominantly affluent client base moves to an organisation seeking greater scale in that segment.
Those different customer groups can require distinct operating models. Wealth managers serving very high-value clients often compete on complex financial planning, international requirements, private markets, lending, and tailored investment mandates. Broader affluent propositions can depend more heavily on operating scale and efficient platform delivery.
Regulation is another contributor to consolidation. Wealth managers have to manage suitability assessments, financial promotions, Consumer Duty requirements, financial-crime controls, data protection, and increasingly demanding operational-resilience expectations.
Technology can improve efficiency across those functions, but implementation and governance carry their own costs. Larger organisations can spread investment in platforms, cybersecurity, reporting, and compliance across a broader pool of client assets.
Acquirers still have to integrate investment processes without disrupting the culture that attracted clients. Centralised research, asset allocation, custody, and reporting can provide scale, while local relationship teams remain important to retaining assets after completion.
The transaction should strengthen Canaccord’s Midlands footprint while allowing EFG to simplify the shape of its UK operation. Deloitte is acting as EFG’s exclusive financial adviser.
The expected capital benefit is relatively modest at group level but supports EFG’s decision to concentrate resources on the client segments it considers core. The anticipated CHF20m profit-before-tax impact also gives the disposal a measurable financial effect despite the absence of a disclosed purchase price.
Completion will start the more difficult phase of the transaction. Wealth-management acquisitions are ultimately judged less by the value of assets under management at signing than by how many of those assets remain once clients, advisers, and investment operations have transferred.
A fourth-quarter completion would leave Canaccord responsible for a longstanding regional wealth business while EFG emerges with a more concentrated UK private-banking operation centred on higher-value client segments.
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