Building Leadership Bench Strength: How Croft & Co Supports Succession Planning in Finance

Many investment banks lacked strategic succession planning for senior advisory roles (Director and Managing Director), leaving teams exposed when top rainmakers moved on to competitors or into private equity and boutique firms. This is especially critical in a competitive landscape where lateral recruitment of senior bankers has surged, with major firms like JPMorgan hiring record numbers of Managing Directors from rivals to strengthen advisory franchises.

In this environment, without clear pipelines for senior hires, firms face leadership gaps, lost client relationships, and hindered deal origination capacity.

Approach

Croft & Co partners with clients to build robust pipelines for Director and Managing Director talent through:

1. Leadership capacity mapping – Evaluated both existing Directors/MDs and potential successors against advisory deal origination and execution metrics, helping clarify gaps and critical roles.
2. Internal talent acceleration – Identified high-performing Vice Presidents and Directors with proven client origination or sector expertise and supported their readiness via tailored mentoring, strategic stretch assignments, and visibility with key clients.
3. Proactive external bench building – Engaged senior advisory talent externally, prioritising top performers with track records in M&A or sector specialisms (e.g., healthcare, TMT), reflecting a market where such expertise is in heightened demand due to increased deal flow and specialised coverage hiring.
4. Compensation and value proposition alignment – Assisted clients in benchmarking competitive packages (including revenue share, bonuses and flexible structures) to win against rival offers and boutique alternatives, where compensation and flexibility are increasingly key factors for MD recruitment.

This balanced strategy ensured firms weren’t overly reliant on either slow promotion pipelines or reactive lateral recruitment.

Results

• Clear succession frameworks for Directors and Managing Directors that linked talent planning directly to business strategy and advisory revenue goals.
• Reduced leadership risk, enabling clients to absorb senior departures with minimal disruption to client coverage and deal execution.
• Stronger competitive positioning in hiring, with improved success in attracting and retaining senior advisory leaders even amid intense lateral competition across the industry.
• Greater internal mobility, helping firms sustain long-term talent development while also maintaining external options when needed.

If you're seeking to pipeline leadership talent or are looking to upgrade your leadership bench, please get in touch with us via info@croftandco.com.