With the recent release of the MMR consultation papers and increasing regulation of the Financial Services industries, we spoke to Suzanne Gibson, Managing Director
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We’ve just celebrated our sixth Business Anniversary which is a really proud achievement for all of us at Ecompli, especially when you consider that five out of those six years have seen us trading in probably the worst economy on record!
Whilst it would be rather easy to focus on the negative impact of the recession I wanted to share a couple of success stories that we’ve been involved in during our six years, relating to supporting firms with their Financial Services Authority (FSA) compliance.
One particular example relates to a firm who were an Appointed Representative (AR) within a Network when they first approached us. They had become very frustrated with the fact that they were handing over 15 – 20 per cent of their income to the Network and didn’t feel that they were getting the support that they deserved e.g. only receiving one compliance visit per year and not getting the customer service that their fees warranted. Therefore they made the decision to go directly regulated with the FSA.
At first, the firm were slightly scared of the process as they had heard a few scaremongering tales about direct regulation, but we soon put their mind at rest when we explained the procedure in full. We then went on to complete the FSA Application on their behalf and we now fully support all of their compliance requirements.
The real triumph of this story is related to the fact that the firm in question is now in complete control of their business. They engage us to complete monthly compliance visits and the overall cost is still nowhere near what they were paying in their previous arrangement as an AR. Another significant success story relates to a firm who approached us after they had received negative feedback from the FSA following a thematic visit. Whilst this may at first not sound very successful, the overall experience has led them to having more supervision in place which has allowed senior management the chance to ‘work on’ rather than ‘work in’ the business. This has resulted in increased sales per adviser and they now use Ecompli to fully support their compliance operations as we complete a variety of compliance visits which include: Training & Competence reviews, TCF, Complaints Handling training, File Reviews, etc. Therefore the firm’s operations are now fully compliant and their profit levels have dramatically increased following their boost in sales.
In summary, I believe when times are hard it’s all too easy for us to focus our attention on the negatives, rather than looking at the positives. It’s certainly something that we as a business have been guilty of in the past and I know a lot of our customers and contacts have been the same. However celebrating our sixth year in business has really made us sit back and realise what we have achieved and I must say that I really am optimistic about the year ahead.
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