The business can trace its origins back to the establishment of the stockbroking firm of John Dawes, a founder of the
London Stock Exchange, in 1762. His firm evolved through many partner changes to become Wontner, Dolphin & Francis in 1970. It acquired Bell Lawrie, a
Scottish firm of investment managers, in 1993. It went on to buy Wise Speke, an investment manager operating in the North of England, in 1998 and Popes, a firm based in
Stoke-on-Trent, in 2002. It sold
Stocktrade to
Alliance Trust Savings in 2015. It then acquired Duncan Lawrie Asset Management, a firm operating in London, in December 2016 and Investec Wealth Management, a firm operating in Ireland, in October 2019. Other acquisitions include IFA firms Aylwin (2018), Epoch Wealth Management (2019), and actuarial consultancy Mathieson Consulting (2019). In March 2022, RBC made a recommended offer for the company worth £1.6 billion, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval. The necessary approvals were secured in September 2022. == References ==