As we prepare to close the office for Christmas and the New Year (we reopen on Wednesday 2nd January 2013), we are reflecting on what has been another busy year for the business.
The start of the year saw us welcome Catriona Lumiste to the team.
Catriona joined Informed Choice in January as our first ISO 22222 Certified Financial Planner.
This internationally agreed benchmark not only enables consumers to identify financial planners who possess the right knowledge, skills, ethics and experience to deliver the desired level of service but also enhances the transparency and efficiency of the process for personal financial planning.
We became ready for the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) in February, a full ten months ahead of the 31st December deadline.
Our entire team of Financial Planners obtained a Statement of Professional Standing from the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), demonstrating they had each met the new minimum standard of professional qualification and completed continuing professional development ‘gap fill’ activity to raise knowledge standards.
In March, Informed Choice featured in the New Model Adviser top 10 South East IFAs feature.
March also saw Informed Choice managing director Martin Bamford named Best Blogger of the Year at the Unbiased.co.uk Media Adviser of the Year Awards 2012.
The eighth annual Unbiased.co.uk Media Awards look to recognise the valuable contributions of individual advisers to the public image of independent financial advice and professional advice in general.
At another awards ceremony in March, Informed Choice was a finalist for IFA of the Year and Best Use of Technology by an Adviser.
Unfortunately on this occasion we were not named winner in either category, although we were very happy to come in third place for the prestigious IFA of the Year award.
In April we coordinated a day of action in response to an unfair funding system for the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS); a system that saw Informed Choice and (indirectly) our clients pay out over £30,000 in scheme levies during 2012 to pay for the failures of other firms.
Our petition to Financial Secretary to the Treasury Mark Hoban MP gathered an amazing 1,421 signatures in less than 24 hours, which we believe shows the strength of feeling in the IFA community about these unfair FSCS levies.
We welcomed another new Financial Planner to the team in June.
Mary Waring is a Chartered Financial Planner and Chartered Accountant who joined Informed Choice from another local firm. Mary specialises in advising female clients, particularly women going through a divorce. She is an Affiliate Member of Resolution.
Informed Choice celebrated its 18th birthday in July, following its formation by directors Nick and Andy Bamford in the summer of 1994.
In September we featured prominently in the New Model Adviser Top 100 for 2012.
The New Model Adviser Top 100 is a selection of advisers who represent the best of the New Model Adviser community and who are the movers and shakers helping to drive the movement forward.
Three members of the Informed Choice team took part in the Citywire 10k run in Regent’s Park during October, with Andrew Neligan, our Financial Planning Director, finishing in ninth place.
In November, Informed Choice was awarded the Gold Standard for Independent Financial Advice at the Gold Standard Awards 2012.
The Gold Standard Awards are one of the toughest financial services awards to achieve, which also makes them highly respected. It was the sixth time that Informed Choice won this prestigious award in the nine year history of the awards.
As the year came to a close, Informed Choice managing director Martin Bamford was named as a finalist for Pensions IFA of the Year at the Unbiased.co.uk Media Adviser Awards 2013.
We also announced the planned launch in early 2013 of IC Direct, our new online DIY investment platform which will run alongside our existing suite of advisory and Financial Planning services.
It has been a great year for the business.
We successfully delivered 540 comprehensive review reports to our clients this year and, despite it being our 18th year in business, had our second best ever year in terms of revenue, following our best ever year in 2011.
Looking ahead to 2013, we are excited about the regulatory changes being introduced which should result in higher professional standards and greater transparency of remuneration practices.
We have no doubts that 2013 will be another exceptionally eventful year for investors, retirees, people getting divorced, those entering care homes and their professional advisers.
We look forward to working closely with our existing clients in 2013 and meeting plenty of new clients who can benefit from our advice and support when making complex and important financial decisions.
Photo credit: Flickr/Sean MacEntee
