Zurich-headquartered private banking group EFG International has agreed to sell the front-office teams and client assets of its Harris Allday wealth management business to Canaccord Wealth, a deal that matters broadly because it reshapes who advises affluent clients across the Midlands, and matters specifically to accountancy professionals because it signals private banks are narrowing their UK focus to ultra-high-net-worth clients, pushing mid-tier affluent wealth advisory work toward specialist managers that accountants more commonly refer clients to. Financial terms were not fully disclosed, though EFG said the sale would lift its pre-tax profit by approximately 20 million Swiss francs and its capital ratio by roughly 30 basis points.

EFG International is a Zurich-headquartered global private banking group whose UK business, EFG Private Bank, manages more than 20 billion pounds in assets; Harris Allday, its Midlands wealth arm since 2006, generated 20.3 million pounds in revenue in 2025 from roughly 3.1 billion pounds under management.

Canaccord Wealth is the UK and Crown Dependencies wealth management arm of Canaccord Genuity Group, a Toronto-listed financial services firm headquartered in Vancouver, ranking among the UK's ten largest wealth managers by assets under management.

Deloitte is acting as EFG's exclusive financial adviser on the transaction.

The rationale is capital efficiency rather than distress: EFG's own disclosed figures show the sale directly strengthens its balance sheet, letting it concentrate UK resources on high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients rather than the broader affluent segment Harris Allday served.

That segment is not new for Canaccord. The firm has built its UK presence through decades of serial acquisitions, including NatWest Stockbrokers, Insinger de Beaufort and Adam and Company, and already has an established Midlands footprint that Harris Allday's 175-year-old client base now deepens rather than duplicates.

For accountancy professionals, the more durable implication is structural: as private banks retreat upmarket to focus purely on ultra-high-net-worth mandates, the affluent clients left behind increasingly need a new wealth management relationship, work that often flows through the accountant who already handles their tax and financial planning.

For the sector, the same upmarket retreat by private banks is worth watching, since it positions accountants as a more central referral gateway for clients whose existing wealth manager narrows its focus away from them.

Source: International Finance / Hubbis / Finews