Pair of Manchester advisers relaunch Womens IFA Group

Two Manchester-based advisers are relaunching a once-popular forum for female IFAs in the North West and hope to reinvigorate the group’s activities nationally.

Claire Manterfield and Tamsin Caine, managing director and adviser respectively at Cheshire-based Brookfield Financial Planning, invited 25 advisers and paraplanners to the first meeting of the Womens IFA Group (WIG) earlier this year and have a second event lined up this month.

The group, established by Fiona Price more than a decade ago and which at one time boasted some 700 members across the country before interest waned, plans to meet quarterly.

Manterfield said she hoped WIG’s activities would inspire more female IFAs to set up their own branches.

“Ideally, we would love to make this a national thing again, but we will see how we get on.

“It is a really nice opportunity because there are not many women in this industry. We get together and we will maybe have a presentation by a fund manager. It is educational more than anything, but it’s a nice evening out too.”

Manterfield said the industry was dominated by “very formal” presentations and events and the aim of the Womens IFA Group was to offer a forum where people could feel confident to express their views.

“We go to a lot of presentations where some people might not feel confident – although a lot of women obviously feel perfectly confident – to perhaps ask a question.

“What we offer is a smaller group which is less formal and people tend to get quite a lot out of it. They do not feel intimidated and it is a good place to air their views.”

Last October, Monetary Solutions director and former WIG member Vivian Slattery launched a new group of female financial advisers with the aim of promoting the standing of women in the industry.

The Woman Adviser and Broker Group, backed by Fidelity FundsNetwork, aims to offer support to female advisers.

Meanwhile, a tool designed to help women find a female IFA has been launched.
The search facility, launched by Financial Mail in partnership with unbiased.co.uk, will allow users to find advisers by location, area of specialism, payment options and qualifications.

Visit: www.fmwf.com