Coutts & Co to open new office in Milton Keynes



  • Coutts to announce two further office locations later this year
  • Over 13,500 future millionaires live along M1 corridor*

    • Coutts & Co, the UK’s leading private bank, has today announced that it will open a new office in Milton Keynes later this year.This follows the success of the launch of Coutts in Liverpool at the end of 2003 and marks the first of a series of three new offices that Coutts plans to open in key locations by the end of 2007.

    The bank, which looks after some of the UK’s top entrepreneurs, executives and sports and entertainment stars, will open the office as part of its ongoing plans to expand its network of offices and numbers of private bankers, throughout the UK. This is the third wave of Coutts’ regional expansion plan, which has been increasing the numbers of private bankers working from its offices outside of London by 60%  – in some cases doubling local teams.

    John Williams, Head of UK Private Banking, Coutts & Co, commented: “Milton Keynes is an ideal town for Coutts to open an office. Both our Oxford and Cambridge offices sit on the fringes of this area, and have had great success in developing our business along the M1 corridor. However, demand and opportunity is such that we need to allocate more resource to the area. Milton Keynes, with its excellent transport network and strong professional community, is an obvious choice.

    “The new office is a fantastic reflection of the regional expansion programme in which we have invested over the last few years. We want to be accessible and geographically close to our clients. Where our competitors are only now beginning to move back into regional private banking, having previously moved out of this area, Coutts is reaping the rewards of its commitment to this market, which has now become the fastest growing area of our business. Year on year we have grown private banker numbers and are delighted to announce this new office in Milton Keynes.”

    The experience of the Coutts private bankers who have been working with clients in this area from their bases in Oxford and Cambridge, has shown that there are many high net worth individuals living in the Milton Keynes area. Indeed Coutts already has a number of clients in the region, who will also be able to benefit from the new office. Recent research conducted by Experian**, on behalf of Coutts, suggests that the M1 corridor is also a haven for the millionaires of the future. Currently over 13,500 people in this region have the potential to become millionaires. Over 54% of these reside in the HP (Hemel Hempstead) postcode district, followed by 24.5% in St Albans, 13% in Northamptonshire.

    “The people we have identified are the millionaires of the future”, explains Williams. “They are typically company directors, or partners in professional practices, whose earnings and assets, by way of share holdings and dividends, for example, by far exceed what they could expect to earn from a salaried position.

    “Receiving expert wealth management advice will be crucial if they are to achieve their full wealth potential, and our Milton Keynes base will be an ideal location from which to work with them.”

    Milton Keynes is becoming an increasingly popular choice for large corporates. Allowing easy access to towns along the M1 corridor, it now hosts over 7,200 employers and has been rated 5th out 48 cities for overall business environment.***

    The offices, which will be located on Silbury Boulevard, will now undergo refurbishment in order to brand them with the Coutts corporate design. The bank will initially recruit 6 private banking staff to the office, but with desk space for 20 available, this will increase as required.

    Coutts is currently sourcing locations for the two further offices and will make announcements on the chosen locations later this year.

    - ENDS -

    For further media information on Coutts contact:

    Claire Symonds, Regional PR Manager, Coutts & Co on 0207 957 2650 or mobile 07970 001149 or e-mail claire.symonds@coutts.com

    *Future millionaires identified in Hemel Hempstead, St Albans, Luton, Milton Keynes and Northampton. Actual figure 13,713.

    ** The statistics were produced using the Financial Strategy Segments which classifies all 44 million adults in GB into thirty one distinct financial lifestyle types.  This is compiled using the GB Postcode Mosaic and the Person Pixel.

    *** Black Horse Relocation’s “Best Cities for Business” survey

    Notes to Editors Milton Keynes

  • Milton Keynes was conceived in 1962 and in 1967 was designated a ‘new town’ with a view to easing the growing pressures on London
  • As such, Milton Keynes was a pioneer of cutting edge technology (e.g. fibre optic networks) and to this day, offers a leading edge communications infrastructure.
  • The town was also developed within the era of modern geographical mobility and thus offers outstanding transport connections, being close to the M1, on the West Coast railway line and being within 1 hour of four main international airports.
  • The population of Milton Keynes has risen by 50% in the last 15 years, compared to a national increase of 4%.
  • In the past, 3,300 new companies have invested in Milton Keynes – about 20% of these are from overseas.
  • 85% of chief executives said that Milton Keynes was a good, very good, or excellent location for their business in a July 1999 survey undertaken for the Chamber of Commerce Training and Enterprise.
  • Healy and Baker’s 1997 ‘Britain’s Best Working Cities’ survey, placed Milton Keynes as second overall, ahead of Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, Manchester and London.


    • Coutts

  • Coutts is the international private banking arm of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is one of the world's largest banking groups.
  • Coutts manages the wealth of 96,000 high net worth clients worldwide through a network of 40 offices globally.
  • The first Coutts regional office to be opened was Eton in 1961. The most recent new opening was Liverpool at the end of 2003. Today, Coutts has regional offices in Bath, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Eton, Guildford, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Tunbridge Wells & Winchester.
  • Coutts offers clients a range of products and services covering sophisticated investment products together with expertise in trust and fiduciary services and UK tax and banking services.
  • Coutts, for three years running (2003-2005) was awarded ‘Best Use of Long-Only Multi-Manager Structures’ at the Private Asset Management Awards
  • Coutts & Co is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Coutts & Co Registered in England No 36695Registered Office 440 Strand London WC2R 0QS
  • Calls may be recorded

    • www.coutts.com