IndependenceWhilst many firms profess independence few remain true to such a fundamental ideal. We will never put our own interests above those of our clients. To prevent any potential conflicts of interest, our business practices and processes have been designed to be fully aligned with the successful achievement of client goals. We will inform you immediately if a conflict of interest does arise. An integral element of our independence is that we are fully fee-based. We believe that you can never be truly independent if business success is reliant on receiving commissions from third-party companies. ExcellenceCollins Ward was established to bring the latest analytical and planning techniques to the UK marketplace, where consumers are poorly served by traditional financial advisers and investment managers. Our advisory staff are educated to the highest possible professional level, and undertake continuing professional education to increase their knowledge and skills. Everything about our technical proposition and service structure has been researched and built with the aim of delivering the most suitable planning solutions and investment management service to UK private clients. Ongoing research and development allows us to continually review and improve our services, ensuring we remain at the forefront of the wealth management profession. PassionChristian Ward founded the firm because of his passion for providing professional yet client focused financial advice. Since the 1980's the UK marketplace has been dominated by regulation and mis-selling debacles. We believe that firms should structure their businesses and services to focus on helping clients meet their goals and aspirations, rather than selling unnecessary products. Our future growth and long-term success is solely dependent upon our clients' success, and we are passionate about helping our clients achieve their goals. IntegrityThe UK financial services industry, with good reason, is not held in high esteem by the UK populace. Collins Ward is firmly committed to uphold the highest ethical standards in its business dealings and we subscribe to the ethical codes' of our main professional bodies. Collins Ward intends to be in the vanguard of modern advisory firms offering unimpeachable quality advice, and looks forward to the day when consumers can be supremely confident of receiving unbiased and competent financial advice. The following links take you to the ethical codes of our main professional bodies: The Institute of Financial Planning The Personal Finance Society The Securities & Investment Institute EmpathyStrong technical knowledge alone is not sufficient to provide excellent advice. We strive to understand not only your situation and goals, but also your values and aspirations, ensuring that we can confidently provide advice which is tailored to your precise requirements. We will help you understand your options and explain our reasoning so that you can exercise your judgement on how best to proceed. Our consultative process involves considerable input on behalf of clients and great personal faith. We will always work hard to earn and maintain your trust. InnovationThe private client has been subject to considerable change in recent years, including wholesale tax law changes, collapsing investment markets and with-profit crises such as that of Equitable Life. Today's hot topics soon become yesterday's news. Firms must innovate to make the best use of today's resources to meet the future requirements of their clients. We utilise the latest technology and planning techniques. Quantitative analysis and modelling software provide analytical tools so we can clearly demonstrate a client's financial situation, and undertake scenario analysis to a level which was previously unavailable in the retail marketplace. We will continue to seek out innovative planning techniques and solutions to meet the needs of our clients as the marketplace develops. For example, we utilise a 'wrap account' for our clients' investments, which provides much increased functionality over traditional stockbroker dealing systems, allowing us to offer an investment proposition which few other wealth managers can match. |