Wingate's Cunningham: How I am preparing for RDR

Alistair Cunningham, director of Wingate Financial Planning, says starting with a blank canvas has helped his firm embrace the changes RDR will bring

I  joined WFS Consulting, Wingate’s sister company, and Employee Benefits Specialist, nearly six years ago to develop the private client division. We achieved significant growth in the private client division, but in 2007 recognised we needed to change our business model to ensure we had a clear and consistent service proposition, to communicate to clients; with a fair remuneration structure in order to achieve sustainable and profitable growth in the medium to long-term.

Initially we decided to ignore the legacy issues that we faced, and rather than getting bogged down with how we would manage the transition of our clients, we decided to start with a blank canvas. We developed a new service proposition, a clear fee-based remuneration structure and streamlined our business process. The intention at all times was to focus on our strengths which were providing long-term financial planning for individuals and trustees.

The development of the business was designed to achieve our long-term vision to provide our clients with long-term strategic financial planning advice. Principally our clients tended to be the owners or senior managers of our corporate clients. It was a huge benefit to be able to focus on developing a business model and proposition, which reflected what we felt a model financial planning practice should look like. We were free to develop this from the ground up, rather than tweaking our existing service and advice model.

Fresh start

In order to embrace this ‘fresh start’ we set up a separate firm, Wingate Financial Planning, as a new business with distinct branding. This enabled us to engage with historic clients of WFS Consulting, offering the opportunity to migrate to our new, clearer, service proposition with the benefits we believe this may offer them.

At the same time as developing a new financial planning proposition we made the decision to outsource the majority of our investment research in order to focus on our core strengths of financial planning. I have a good knowledge of investments, and hold the IMC, but I do not believe selecting investment funds or building asset allocations is an efficient use of my time. I would rather outsource this to a company that specialises in this area, leaving me to provide the core planning advice.

Wingate was one of the first firms to be granted Chartered Financial Planner status, as was I, as an individual. I have some ‘gap filling’ requirements ahead of the 2012 deadline and at this stage I am unsure whether to do this via structured CPD or through relevant qualifications, having read the ifs syllabus I am becoming a fan of their qualifications.

I believe that a clear service proposition, coupled with a commitment to ongoing financial planning, and a clear fee-based charging structure has enabled us to grow, and continue to grow, through organic means. We achieved this principally through referrals from clients, as well as the employees and ex-employees of the corporate clients within WFS Consulting.

As Wingate has matured we are now in a position to acquire further businesses or client banks; having a clear client proposition is our greatest strength, which is supported by clear and documented internal processes and procedures. I hope that RDR provides the chance to accelerate this opportunity.

Embracing RDR

I speak extensively to other advisers, and any IFA or financial planner who thinks they have reached the stage where they can be complacent, or believes the majority of IFAs are stuck in ‘the dark ages’ are kidding themselves. I have found my peers to be, by and large, highly motivated and keen to embrace RDR with changes to their business model.

I believe that starting with a ‘blank canvas’ has enabled us to quickly embrace RDR, but while we are doing a lot right, I accept we still have a lot to learn and are keen to share best practice with other firms.

I am pretty relaxed about the ‘restricted’ label and while Wingate will remain independent, I think many consumers will be able to access appropriate advice from firms delivering restricted advice. Both my clients and I are passionate about our independence, but I can see an opportunity for highly regulated and focused advice to be given under the restricted label. My fear is that without a clear distinction on how restricted advice differs from independent advice it will be simple for those with slick marketing departments to obfuscate their status.