MHP has announced the appointment of Nick Woods as head of financial services. He replaces Mike Robb who has been running the practice for two years.

Woods joins from Instinctif Partners, where for the past three years he has led the financial services practice. Woods has worked with a wide range of businesses, from leading blue-chip multinationals to high-growth challengers. His clients have included Goodbody, Robert Half, CME Group, Netwealth, Lockton, Catalina Holdings and Volpi Capital. Woods started his career at Hill & Knowlton before spending time at Powerscourt.

In his new role, Woods will manage a team of 15 specialists, who provide strategic communication support for clients across the financial services sector, including banks, insurers, asset managers, pension funds, advisory firms and fast-growth fintech businesses.

MHP’s 50 clients includes two of Europe’s top three most-valuable fintech unicorns, funds & asset managers with more than £3tn under management and five of the leading global banks.

Woods will report to Alex Bigg, MHP’s CEO. He joins the agency in April.

Bigg says, “Mike Robb is a hard act to follow and we wish him well with his new venture but in Nick we have found a brilliant successor.  He is one of the UK’s leading financial services practitioners with an incredibly strong track record of leading high-performing teams. Nick shares our integrated philosophy and will be a leading what I think is one of the best financial services offers in the UK communications market at present.  We can’t wait for Nick to join us.”

Woods joins MHP during a period of growth. In the past two years, the agency has won more than 50 new accounts and attracted top talent from rival firms, including most recently Rachel Bower, who left Edelman to lead MHP’s brand & reputation team.