Sesame to launch national IFA for adviser trainees

Sesame Bankhall Group is set to launch a 'mini' national IFA so students taking part in its Financial Adviser School can begin trading under a registered name.

The proposition would provide a temporary home for those candidates who gained the initial qualifications and experience to begin offering mortgage and protection advice.

After completing the rest of their training to QCF Level 4, which Sesame said would likely take 18 months, candidates will then be expected to join one of the network's adviser firms.

Launched earlier this year, the Financial Adviser School provides qualifications support, business acumen and people skills training to what it hopes will be the next generation of professional advisers.

The school is open to anyone considering a change of career, as well as graduates, Sesame said.

"If students are doing our programme, have gained the initial qualifications and the prospecting and sales skills they will need, we need a home for them," Sesame Bankhall Group chief operating officer George Higginson said.

"We will, in effect, have a mini national IFA for our adviser school."

Longer-term, Higginson said Sesame may consider a permanent national presence for candidates who decided against joining one of the network's existing adviser firms.

Meanwhile, Sesame Bankhall Group is in the process of developing a risk profiling tool for its advisers.

It is in discussions with providers about developing what Higginson hopes will be a "21st Century" way of profiling clients properly.

"At the moment, a tool will tell an adviser that a client has an attitude to risk of, say, six, but what about interacting with the client to see if they think they are a six?

"We want to provide a more templated service. Advisers like to know they are using a tool which has been approved."

The development of the tool is part of wider Sesame plans to offer point-of-sale and post-sale support for its advisers.

They include providing investment management capability via partnerships with specialist companies.