IF the independent financial advice industry was ever in need of a passionate advocate, Stephen Kavanagh would be an obvious candidate.
The Chase de Vere chief executive admits he was not always convinced of the merits of the firm remaining truly independent in terms of the range of products it offers clients.
However, while some financial advisers have tied themselves to the restricted mast in the post-Retail Distribution Review era, allowing them to make a margin from the sale of their own products following the demise of commission, Chase de Vere has made a virtue of giving its clients the full spectrum of products out there on the market. And Mr Kavanagh is absolutely convinced it is the right way to go, as indeed are the advisers he oversees. “We are the agent of the client, rather than the agent of the product provider, and they [Chase de Vere advisers] are proud of it,” he said. “We are almost holier than thou about it, because we’ve never moved our beliefs; we’ve never moved away from being the agent of the client.”
There will obviously those within the industry who take a different view, but there seems little doubt that it is the right strategy for Chase de Vere. The firm, whose 2017 accounts are expected to show an increase on the £5.8m of profit it made in 2016, has almost become a magnet for peers which want to be part of the independent movement it represents.
Having acquired Medical Money Management in October, Mr Kavanagh expects to complete two more deals in the months ahead. It is hard to imagine they will be the last.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel