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Aurora Group firms fly the service standard!
March 10, 2010
Investor in Customers (IIC) the service standard experts have just presented IIC Awards to two founding members of Aurora Group, the City based boutique wealth management forum - Investment Quorum (IQ) and Capital Asset Management (CAM).
IIC use a star rating system for the Investor in Customers Award of 1/2/3 stars and both IQ and CAM have comfortably achieved the 3 star standard (IQ for an unprecedented third time). Charlie Williams, director IIC commented: “The Aurora Group member firms are united in their belief in the importance of long term relationships with clients based on understanding their personal desires and aspirations. It is therefore gratifying to have been able to carry out these two assessments and evidence the success achieved by Lee at IQ and Alan at CAM in delivering against these challenging values. Both firms are in the top ten of companies we have assessed, across all business sectors.”
He added: “Whilst there are differences between the two, around the margins, both have achieved very high client loyalty scores which from the comments made by clients are deeply rooted in the quality of service provided by Lee and Alan.”
Both Lee and Alan were delighted with the detailed feedback from their assessments as well as the three star awards. Many client respondents were happy for their responses to be shared with the firm concerned. As Lee said, “we are now in a position to have meaningful discussions with many of our clients about specific aspects of our service and this will enable us to fine tune the service we provide, still further.”
Alan agreed and also saw real benefits for staff. “My team are buzzing about the award and it’s been great for them to see their efforts recognised in this way by the people who matter, our clients. It’s been a great experience.”
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Aurora founder member firm honoured with national award.
23rd September 2009
 "Leading independent wealth manager and Aurora Group founder member, Investment Quorum, has added to its growing number of awards by scooping the The Logica UK Platform Awards - Leading platform-based adviser practice. The award, which was presented by Justin Urquhart Stewart of 7IM and Paul Lewis from Moneybox to Investment Quorum's CEO at a gala dinner at London's Waldorf Hilton, recognises the firm's commitment to a transparent approach to financial advice and charging.
Lee Robertson, CEO, Investment Quorum said: ‘I am very proud of the team at Investment Quorum, this award demonstrates that once again we are willing to be weighed and measured by a heavyweight panel on the quality of our offering. It also proves that boutique size is no barrier to excellence'.
The invitation-only awards highlight organisations that are committed to excellence. The company has previously won two major awards that reflect excellence in client service: the coveted Gold Standard Award for independent financial advice, and an Investor in Customers 3 Star award- for which Investment Quorum not only achieved the highest scores ever seen by the IIC organisation, but also received uncontested reaccreditation in its second year "
Bank Bashing Continues Unabated – Here's Why
20th August 2009 - PDF Version
Asquith & Partners, the Mayfair based Family Wealth Management Practice is taking clients from the private banking arms of the big brands faster than ever before. While Asquith & Partners have always seen themselves as playing in this space "the devaluation of the brand power of the major players has been startling” according to Richard Bertin, Managing Partner.
Anecdotal evidence from clients suggests the primary reason for choosing the big brands previously was comfort factor; their size and power was perceived to create extra client value, but not anymore. Since the global financial crisis many clients have changed their views completely. Boutique businesses are now perceived to offer all the skill and depth of the large brand experience with the addition of a personal relationship with the owners of the business. Add to that the fact that small companies don’t get embroiled in global financial meltdowns and the decision gets much simpler for many wealthy individuals and families.
Bertin says: "Many families need an independent family adviser who can identify tax planning opportunities, risk management issues, whilst also taking responsibility for wealth management and the overall strategy and implementation of advice. Many of the bigger brands and "family office firms” are only engaging clients at a minimum level of £10-20 million of investible cash.”
Boutique players like Asquith & Partners work well with clients in the £5 -20 million range and have never seen it so good. Bertin says: "They only have themselves to blame. Some banks were not content with offering customers bank deposits for security, so they offered a quasi deposit account with places like AIG. They are now on the thick end of litigation from disgruntled investors who thought their "cash” was safe in things like the £5 billion plus AIG Life Enhanced Fund.”
Asquith & Partners is already making noises in the private client arena. In the last twelve months it spearheaded the Institute of Financial Planning’s inaugural Financial Planning Week in London and is a founder member of Aurora, the boutique wealth management group, whilst also participating in a number of upcoming events at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.
Richard Bertin says: "We are in something of a sweet spot at the moment. It would be madness not to take advantage of it, so we have hired Scorpio Partnership, the leading wealth management consultants to help us grow our business and allow those disgruntled clients of private banks to find a home that is not tainted with all this baggage.”
"The clients of the future are actively exercising their ability to choose advisors. The old paradigm of selecting firms purely based on their address, accent and history are at last being replaced by a paradigm of selection around expertise, sustained quality and an affinity with the needs of the client. History will show that in 2009 we entered the age of consumer activism in global wealth management,” said Sebastian Dovey, managing partner at Scorpio Partnership.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Richard Bertin, Managing Partner, Asquith & Partners LLP 020 7317 0980
Rbertin@asquith.co.uk
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Asquith & Partners LLP
Asquith & Partners is a fee based Family Wealth Management Practice that combines the rigorous, analytical approach of the experienced accountant and the broad outlook of the trusted private banker. We use rigorous, audit-based tools and risk analysis to quantify and measure our clients’ financial position; but for us, analytical skills are not enough. We also like to get to know our clients personally and understand their circumstances in depth, because we believe that good advice grows out of long-term relationships.
Asquith & Partners was set up in 2005 by Richard Bertin, a qualified Chartered Accountant and Nick Bedford, an experienced Investment Banker as they believed that there was a gap in the market.
"We provide a new type of service - one you really can't find elsewhere," says Richard Bertin, Managing Partner of Asquith & Partners. "The concept grew out of my experience as an accountant and a financial consultant. I want Asquith & Partners to build a reputation for advice that's truly objective, based on a rigorous analysis of the client's situation. That's the accountant in me. But I also know from my years as a consultant that clients value the insights that grow out of personal relationships - the sort of counsel that, in the past, a trusted banker would have provided. So we aim to build long-term, personal relationships right from the start. The third element of our service is a network of trusted professional advisers that we can call on to support our clients right across the board."
Asquith & Partners works with high net worth private clients, mainly professional people; executives and entrepreneurs. We currently look after approximately 50 clients and in excess of £50million under advice.
About Richard Bertin
Richard Bertin is the Managing Partner of Asquith & Partners.
Richard has the professional qualifications, breadth of experience and wide circle of contacts needed to provide effective counsel to private individuals. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1989 and has worked as a consultant financial adviser since 1990. On top of his accountancy qualifications he also holds the title of Certified Financial Planner. Richard is also a member of the Financial Planning Committee at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a founder member of Aurora, the Boutique wealth management group. Richard set up independent financial advisers Asquith Financial in 1995 and has been involved in many other business success-stories.
Richard is an energetic networker. He was a founder director of Professional Access Group, a forum established to develop relationships between The National Solicitors Network and other lawyers, accountants and independent financial advisers nationwide. Alongside fellow local businessmen such as Sir Terence Conran, he also co-founded The Shad Thames Luncheon Club, which fostered business relationships in the area in which Asquith Financial was established.
He remains personally involved in the consultancy process for all clients: "Financial consultancy clients want to know that they will benefit from the experience of the senior people within the practice," Richard says.
About Scorpio Partnership
Scorpio Partnership is the world’s leading strategist and HNW consumer issues researcher to the wealth management industry, based in London.
The firm has conducted more than 300 global assignments across the wealth spectrum for over 150 institutions in private banking, fund management, investment banks, family offices, technology and resource management, as well as for governments and related service providers focused on the wealth management industry.
Scorpio Partnership specialises in interview-based insight gathered from financial industries connected to global wealth. The firm does this with HNW individuals directly and wealth management industry professionals to support strategic assessments and future initiatives for clients. This long term pulse testing, refined over 10 years’ expertise, forms the foundation for strategic recommendations to clients.
Scorpio Partnership has interviewed over 7,000 HNW and UHNW global consumers of wealth management services and more than 14,000 wealth management staff and intermediaries.
In 2008*, Scorpio Partnership was voted the best global consultancy to the wealth management industry for the third consecutive year, ahead of the top three global management consulting firms. The firm is independent and owned by management.
*WealthBriefing, 2006 - 2008
New Wealth Management Group offers True Independence and Strength in Numbers
Eight boutique wealth management firms have today announced an alliance that aims to plug the gap in the market for independent, customer-focused advice. Aurora Group will offer a service that is more personal than the big banks, and yet more widely resourced than the smallest firms.
'We've all heard of the new model of adviser,' said Lee Robertson, spokesman for Aurora and CEO of member firm Investment Quorum. 'But what's emerging now is the next phase in the evolution of the private client wealth manager.
'We believe that the most effective way of providing true, client focused wealth management is through smaller, boutique firms – and yet we recognise that smaller firms often don't have the PR clout, budget or resources of the larger firms, and this is why Aurora was created.'
Aurora's founding firms are recognised as some of the leaders in the sector in the UK. All are independent in ownership and structure, and provide comprehensive advice to their clients. By pooling its resources, Aurora believes it can deliver wealth management to clients in a way that can directly compete with the private banks, insurance companies and national financial adviser firms.
'The current level of dissatisfaction with the banks, not simply as providers of deposits and loans, but as financial planning and wealth management providers, is at an all time low,' said Robertson.
Aurora states that:
- We believe in true fee-based financial planning services, and that product driven commission sales inevitably have an impact on the integrity of the advice offered
- We believe in the importance of personal relationships with clients based on a close understanding of their aspirations – only achievable in a smaller boutique style business
- Most of the founder members of Aurora have a background in the large firm environment and became dissatisfied and wished to deliver a better service to client
- The group can still offer the full service provided by banks including Treasury, FX and cash management
It's mission statement concludes: 'the primary purpose of this group is therefore to share ideas and best practice amongst some of the leading practitioners at the vanguard of these exciting developments and to help shape the future of the advisory profession to the advantage of clients during this unprecedented period of change.'
For more information please contact group spokesman:
Lee Robertson at Investment Quorum on 020 7337 1390
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