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Financial Services Forum

The first Financial Services Forum for some time was well-attended by a mix of firms who have a full financial services offering, have a joint venture arrangement with a third party or have very little involvement in financial services.

It was recognised that while the slump in the economy had reduced activity in the marketplace, there were still clients with financial services needs and money to invest. The financial services market has responded with many new products and services to meet client expectations in these quickly-changing times.

We also had two informative presentations, the first of which, by Paradigm Partners, focused on the Retail Distribution Review and what it means for those in financial services, highlighting that from 1 January 2012, the new rules could stop some firms trading. From then, Capital Adequacy Rules, qualifications of IFAs and the Transparency of Income rules will for some firms make it a very challenging environment in which to operate. However, for firms who are already charging fees, using highly-qualified IFAs, etc, there will be less obvious impact and potentially many opportunities.

The second presentation was by Perspective Group, who are an IFA consolidator. They talked about their model and the opportunities not only for those represented at the forum but for the clients of all member firms who are considering selling their businesses. Perspective have acquired 15 financial services businesses in the last 18 months and are looking to buy at least as many again before 2012.

Paul Winder