During October 2020 it was announced that Mutual Financial Management had been placed at number 59 in the list of the FTAdviser’s Top 100 Financial Adviser firms in the UK.  The rankings take into account the growth of an advisory business, assets under management and asset retention, the number of years’ experience each business has managing assets in different economic and interest-rate environments, and how well qualified a firms individual advisers are.

We are very pleased to announce that Mutual Financial Management has recently achieved the Cyber Essentials accreditation –  view our certificate here.  This demonstrates our commitment to managing the risk of the firm being targeted against a cyber attack.  Cyber security continues to remain a priority for our firm and we will continue to assess, identify and monitor the risks in this important area to ensure that our controls are sufficiently robust.

Mutual Financial Management has adopted The Pension Transfer Gold Standard when providing defined benefit pension transfer advice.  In order to adopt the Gold Standard we are required to meet the following standards:

• Regulatory permissions for providing pension transfer advice, including authorisation as both a pension transfer specialist and an investment advisor.

• The firm, or any individual within the firm, is not under any form of ongoing regulatory sanction by the FCA or accredited body in this field of advice.

• Has professional indemnity insurance which meets FCA threshold conditions and that the firm has adequate resources in place.

• Has adopted all of the principles of the Pension Transfer Gold Standard which are as follows:

1.  Helping clients understand when advice is appropriate.

2.  Ensuring advice given supports the clients overall wellbeing in the context of their stated objectives.

3.  Ensuring client understanding and acceptance of all charges.

4.  Ensuring the most appropriate and updated technical skills are applied.

5.  Transparent management of Conflicts of Interest.

6.  Helping clients understand the cost of transferring benefits.

7.  Avoiding unregulated investments and introducers.

8.  Transparency in advice processes and outcomes.

9.  Promoting the Consumer Guide to the Pension Transfer Gold Standard.