AJ Bell has appointed Andrew Donald as investment sales director, a newly created role in charge of selling the group’s investment solutions to financial advisers. His arrival coincides with a 20% reduction in the charge on AJ Bell Investments’ core managed portfolio service. The two announcements came on the same day, pairing a senior sales hire with a lower price for the product he will be selling.
Donald will lead adviser sales of the Managed Portfolio Service (MPS) and AJ Bell’s range of funds across the platform market. He joins from 7IM, where he spent more than 18 years in strategic partnerships and business development and built up a detailed knowledge of the advised market. Earlier in his career he worked at Selestia, which is now part of Quilter.
AJ Bell Investments has worked with advisers for more than 10 years, offering its MPS alongside a range of multi-asset funds. Its assets under management grew by 41% in the year to June 2026, reaching £11.4bn. Under the price change, the fee on the core MPS range drops from 0.15% to 0.12%, a cut that took effect on the day Donald’s appointment was announced.
Ryan Hughes, managing director of AJ Bell Investments, said advisers are dealing with an increasingly complex tax and regulatory environment, and that the business needs people with the experience to support them and their clients. He said Donald brings that expertise “in spades” and that the hire will help AJ Bell’s advised business improve the service it gives to advisers through its investment range. Hughes framed the hire as a response to the growing demands advisers face from tax rules and regulation.
Donald said the combination of an established investment range, a strong focus on service and the lower price on the core MPS range gives advisers, their partners and their clients an attractive offer. The appointment puts an executive with nearly two decades of experience in the advised market in charge of selling AJ Bell’s in-house portfolios at the same moment the group is lowering what they cost.
