A large crowd gathered at the University of Edinburgh Business School on Thursday 29th March, eager to discuss the latest updates on Brexit due to the topical timing of the one-year anniversary of the triggering of Article 50.

As the event was being hosted by the Professional Bodies’ Forum of Scotland, there were attendees from many professional bodies, those present included Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment, Chartered Banker Institute, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, Institute of Chartered Accountant in England and Wales, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Law Society of Scotland, Pensions Management Institute and the CFA Society of the UK.

Attendees were ushered into the auditorium at 6:30pm where they were welcomed by Aidan Hetherington, Corporate Engagement Manager, University of Edinburgh Business School. Aidan provided a brief overview of the Business School’s activity surrounding the topic before handing over to Colin Anderson, CISI and Chair, Professional Bodies’ Forum of Scotland. Colin provided the audience with a great overview of the Forum’s activity and purpose before handing over to the panel of expert speakers for the evening.

Owen Kelly OBE acted as Chair for the panel and asked each panellist to briefly open the discussion on their thoughts regarding Brexit and the impact a No Deal could have on Scotland’s services. He was joined on the panel by Roger Mullin, Director, Momentous change, Lucy O’Carroll, Chief Economist, Aberdeen Standard Investments, Anthony Walters, Head of Public Relations, ACCA and Leigh-Ann Plenderleith, Head of Brexit Actuarial, Aberdeen Standard Investments.

Following each speaker’s opening remarks, Owen wonderfully kept the conversation flowing by posing further detailed questions to each speaker before opening to the floor for a Q&A session from the audience. There were some challenging questions which the panel addressed starting with looking at some of the positives that Brexit could bring to Scotland, considering the impact that a no deal would mean and are business leaders saying and doing enough to bring information on the table. There was discussion on the political nature of Brexit disregarding the business aspects, thoughts on the impact of the devaluation of sterling and the opportunity to build better relationships with clients regarding companies plans surrounding Brexit.

At the end there was a consensus that Government should be listening more to businesses in the service industry whilst providing more clarity on the agreements reached and regardless of your point of view you should be preparing for all outcomes. But ultimately a few just wanted to turn back time and not have the vote.

It was an engaging debate and it demonstrated the importance of having open discussions across all professions as we all have similar issues.

Following on from the session, the audience retired to the landing at the Business School for some networking, a glass of wine and to continue the debate surrounding the future of Scotland under the ever-changing potential Brexit implications.

Forthcoming events include a look at the Scottish Rate of Income Tax and how it will impact on Scotland’s workforce having different and higher tax rates than the rest of the UK. The Forum will also be starting the first of a series of events to assist those Accidental Managers, those technically gifted individuals that are created into managers but never really given the skills they need to manage a team of unique individuals.

About the Professional Bodies’ Forum of Scotland

Membership of a professional body is an ever increasing way of building your network and staying up to date with changes in the industry. Here in Scotland we can also see the greater benefit of occasionally working together to host events for all our different members, bringing investment professionals with legal professionals, actuaries and accountants with pension specialists and financial planners. Every professional body works towards benefiting our individual membership and the Professional Bodies’ Forum allows us to work closer together to deliver unique events for all professionals within Scotland.

Keep in-touch and join us on LinkedIn.

The dinner was held in partnership with the Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission on Friday 9 March at the Four Seasons, Limassol, Cyprus.

Click here to view photos from the event.

Sky News Ireland correspondent David Blevins was guest speaker at the event, held on 22 February 2018 at the Belfast Harbour Commissioner’s Office.

Click here to view photos from the event.

 

The National Institute of Business Management (NIBM) in Colombo and the CISI have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to offer professional financial services qualifications to local students to complement their academic studies at the campus.

Read more here.

John Cubitt, Chartered FCSI has been appointed President of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) Northern Ireland Branch.

A Chartered Wealth Manager with Cunningham Coates (part of Smith & Williamson group) John graduated from the Queen’s University of Belfast with a BSc in Economics and MSc in Finance.  He is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.

Click here to read more.

Brian Radbone and Robert Noble-Warren, CTA, FCSI spoke to the theme of fine tuning the portfolio for tax, raising some surprising results.

Brian - whose updated slides from Transact are below - started by explaining that far fewer assets now paid interest with deduction of tax, and therefore the impact of tax upon customers would be that much more obvious. He took us through the seven stage process of the income tax computation, and then into the personal allowance, the savings allowance, the savings rate, the dividend allowance and the pension annual allowance charge. Demonstrating that more income tended to reduce allowances, he showed that the tax burden for higher rate taxpayers was moving up. 
Download Brian's presentation file

Robert commenced with a review of recent Ombudsman complaints in connection with tax and suggested that there was good reason to be explicit about which analyses were not being undertaken, and that a blanket "we are not acting as your tax adviser" might well be insufficient. He then applied a cost benefit analysis to three different tax saving techniques. The first was the annual bed and ISA tactic to pick up the annual CGT allowance, usually recommended as always useful. But since the extra charges would lower the future value of the portfolio, Robert explained that in practice, for many individual situations, the Bed and ISA was not worthwhile.  He then applied the same cost/benefit to rearranging sectors of the portfolio between the ISA and the dealing account for less tax, using computer algorithms, showing that a swift answer was possible. 

Our next talk is on 24 April and looks at attempting to define which sectors of the UK economy are likely to grow faster than others, by looking at the Bank of England's recent data for investment by sector, and productivity by sector. Once again, we welcome Dona Kehoe from the Bank of England to open, and Phil Robotham to talk about how to interpret the figures we have just heard.

[ Please note! The next event is in Plymouth, Boringdon Hall. Click here to book your place for our 24 April event. ]

Former poker pro Caspar Berry drew parallels between poker and investment risk at the event held on 2 February 2018 at Beau Sejour Leisure Centre, Guernsey

View the photos from the ceremony here.

As 2017 draws to a close, I would like to wish you a very Happy Christmas.

The year has seen a significant rise in membership, so I would like, particularly, to welcome new members, our expanding student population and those of you who re-joined over the past year.

2017 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the CISI. We have grown to be the premier internationally recognised qualifications and membership body for professionals in the investment and fund management industry. We have had an extremely busy and worthwhile year in terms of hosting a series of events on a range of topics suggested by members which provide an excellent opportunity to discuss timely and relevant issues and meet like-minded industry colleagues.

I would encourage you to note the diary dates below for seminars organised in the first quarter of next year. Likewise, if there any topics you would particularly find useful to discuss in 2018, please let us know by contacting your CISI Ireland representative, Deirdre Heffernan.

Congratulations to all those who have successfully completed your CISI qualifications this year. We will recognise the highest achievers at our members dinner on 26 April 2018.

Thanks again for all your participation and Best wishes for 2018.

Frank

Frank O'Riordan MCSI, President, CISI Ireland

Gretchen Betts CFP^TM Chartered MCSI, has been appointed President of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) Wales branch.

Click here to read more.

The North-East’s CISI branch committee met on 30 November to outline the 2018 programme. Prior to the meeting we requested for all members to assist us in completing a survey. The survey was very useful highlighting CISI members wants and needs well and we thank you for your participation in the survey.

There was a particularly strong response for sessions related to Personal Development and associated skills. In the meeting held, the committee asked two follow-on questions:

1. What does personal development mean to each CISI Member?
2. How can we delivery branch meetings that encompass a range of skills from key areas such as financial planning, wealth management and back-office operations.

To help answer these questions, the Committee evaluated the demographics of the region’s members. Colin Anderson, the CISI regional coordinator, broke down the region’s membership statistics showing that the gender breakdown of members is 60% male and 33% female. These were further broken down by age as follows:

Age Groups	Males	Females %
Under 30	40%	27%
30 to 39	20%	39%
40 to 49	22%	21%
50 to 59	11%	12%
60+	7%	1%

 

This data showed that the region has a lot of members in the early stages of their careers, where personal development and associated skills can have a meaningful impact for long-term success. The younger age is believed to be due to a large intake of members from Northumbria University and Newcastle University Business School who received student registration as a result of studying the CISI Foundation Course. This is worthwhile for Employers to take note for those interested in future recruitment opportunities from the regional network.  

The consensus was that the programme should include personal development for members, but should balance these sessions as an ongoing sub-theme throughout the year rather than in one-off, standalone events. The committee noted that many firms operate their own in-house training and so any such sessions to be delivered by the CISI should be complementary where possible.

Topics under the theme of Personal Development were discussed with suggested topics including negotiation, effective client communication, marketing skills and finally routes for further professional qualifications, such as providing access for members to learn more about the CFP six stages of financial planning for those interested in taking the CFP license.

Two members of the committee noted a keen interest in promoting greater diversity. Any female members interested to discuss further are asked to please contact Dr Emma Black or Natalie Turner for more information.

Since becoming Branch Chairman, I quickly realised the strong relationship that my predecessor Nick Swales developed with the both Northumbria University and Newcastle University. Nick remains on the committee in addition to his CISI board responsibilities. One topic both Nick and I are passionate about is helping the younger generation (aged 16 and over) find information when considering a career in financial services. Such assistance could extend to participating in project work with our region’s universities. These will continue to be explored over the months ahead.

The committee agreed on the region’s program for 2018 and I’m delighted to share the events with you as follows (NB: dates, timings and venues will be announced shortly):

22 February 2018 – Royal Station Hotel, Neville Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 5DH

• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – are you ready?
• Why wealth and financial planners should still consider and discuss offshore planning with their clients.

7 March 2018 – Royal Station Hotel, Neville Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 5DH

Theme: Economics and Politics

• Mauricio Armellini Agent Bank England North East Mauricio will deliver a presentation about the UK economic outlook from the perspective of the Bank of England. He will share the Bank of England’s forecast for growth, inflation and unemployment, as well as discuss the main judgements of the Monetary Policy Committee that sit behind their interest-rate decisions
• Open forum to discuss with North East Committee how we can support our members in the region

4 May Theme: The Power of Effective Client Communication

• Communicating with clients is a major challenge for financial advisers. This presentation discusses the importance of having a well-structured client communication strategy. It considers the challenges in connecting with clients, reviews the results from Dimensional’s Global Investor Survey and Benchmarking Study, and introduces a powerful framework for effective communication.

TBA September 2018 - Theme: Behavioral Finance and Vulnerable Clients

• Vulnerable Clients – it may not just be the obvious, so we’ll cover the recent updates to the FCA’s Occasional Paper No. 8 and Financial Lives study;
• Behavioral Finance - Framing the Question – It is not what you say it how you say it. This session will be delivered by Northumbria University who has carried out extensive research on this subject. They will give you an understanding how different questions can have different outcomes.

TBA October 2018 – Theme: Diversity- How will affect the future and the way we work 

• This session will focus on diversity and will be of benefit to everyone from business owners and regional directors to individual members and their clients. This will be a forum format which members who attend will share their practices to help establish a blueprint for success.

Personal Development is our overarching theme for 2018

The committee is here to help you. Remember the phase “shy-bairns-get-nowt”.

All you have to do is ask. Financial services plays an important role within the region and it is our aim to build up the profile of the CISI to work with other professional bodies to improve the voice of the North-East.

We are looking forward to speaking with you all in due course and seeing you at the events over the year to come.

In the meantime, both I and the committee hope you have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2018.

James Clancy
President of the CISI North East Branch 

I had the honour of attending the Presidents' Day at the new CISI offices in the ‘Walkie Talkie’ building in Fenchurch Street, London, towards the end of January to consider the calendar of events for UK branches over the course of 2018 and beyond.

Although it was great to visit on of the London skyline’s most iconic buildings, it was a greater honour to meet so many current and future Presidents of the CISI regional branches and to see the branch network thriving.

The agenda for the day was packed and included aspects of marketing, education and future focus, also announcing the next CISI Financial Planning Conference in Birmingham in early October 2018.

Lunch included a tour of the Sky Garden at the Walkie Talkie building and it is amazing to see how the London skyline is changing so rapidly (even through the cloud!) within the square mile, which is encouraging for all forms of financial and investment services post-Brexit.

I am pleased that I was able to provide feedback from the Southern branch of the CISI and to gain insight into other branches' modus operandi going forward. Lots to see and consider and of course to achieve during 2018 and 2019. It was also great to hear from Jackie Lockie CFP, Chartered FCSI, Head of Financial Planning at CISI (pictured), about the great opportunities ahead. 

The CISI looks to be in fine form to face the challenges of financial services during the course of the year and I look forward to working with them further into the future.

Keith Churchouse CFP Chartered FSCI
Vice-President CISI Southern Committee

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Maggie Lindsay, Chartered FCSI as President of the CISI Scotland branch.

Read more here.

The CISI Guernsey Branch Committee have agreed at the request of ‘The International Stock Exchange’ (TISE) based in Guernsey to place the following note on the ‘CISI Guernsey Branch web pages’ as it may be of interest to local members. (Please note however that the service is not endorsed or recommended by either the Chartered Institute of Securities, or it’s local Guernsey Committee and the details reproduced below are for ‘information purposes’ only).

The International Stock Exchange (TISE) has launched a new service to assist firms – and their clients – with obtaining a Legal Entity Identifier (LEI).

What is an LEI?

An LEI is a unique 20-character alphanumeric identification code designed for regulators to globally identify all legal entities that are engaging in financial transactions.

Which entities must have an LEI?

Some entities have already been required to have an LEI but the scope is set to widen significantly. From 3 January 2018, all entities within the EU, including the UK, which are subject to the Market in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) and its associated regulations – or non-EU entities wishing to transact with such entities – must have an LEI. “No LEI, No Trade.”

TISE’s LEI service

TISE is now able to act as an easily accessible conduit through which its member firms AND also non-member firms (i.e. those without a pre-existing relationship with TISE) are able to obtain LEIs from the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

Key features

• A service from within the Crown Dependencies
• Open to existing Members and also non-Member firms
• May be used by firms for their own entities and/or those of their clients
• May be used for a single LEI or multiple LEIs
• Administration hub for obtaining, renewing and maintaining LEIs with the LSE
• Approachable team available to assist you

Cost

• Each LEI request received has an initial set up fee of £155
• Each LEI has an annual renewal fee of £95

Next steps

For more information or to submit an application, please visit our new LEI Service webpage: http://www.tisegroup.com/lei-service/

Please note that the LEI Service terms and conditions on that webpage must be read, understood and accepted prior to any application being submitted.

If you still have any questions once you have consulted our LEI Service webpage and terms and conditions, then please contact:

Robbie Andrade, Director
Robbie.andrade@tisegroup.com

Ben Snook, Senior Manager
Ben.snook@tisegroup.com

The International Stock Exchange Group Limited.
PO Box 623 Helvetia Court, Block B, 3rd Floor, Les Echelons, St Peter Port, Guernsey, GY1 1AR

TISE is a registered trademark of The International Stock Exchange Group Limited.

Kate Lester, a local entrepreneur, provided the audience with insights into the importance of ethics, values and integrity in the financial services sector at the event, held on 30 November 2017 at Harbour Hotel, Surrey

View the photos from the dinner here.

The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) is delighted to announce the appointment of Maggie Lindsay, Chartered FCSI as President of the CISI Scotland branch.

Click here to read more.

The first annual dinner for the new CISI Cotswold branch was held at the Greenway Hotel, Cheltenham on 30 November 2017

View the photos from the ceremony here.

Magician Chris North kept an audience of over 45 on their toes with his tricks at the event, held on 9 November 2017 at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

View the photos from the dinner here.

CISI friend John Young, Agent for the North West spoke at Rathbone Hall on 14^th December, for our Christmas CPD event. 

Interest Rates

On the 2^nd November, interest rates were raised to 0.50% in order to meet the inflation target while still supporting jobs and growth.

Overall, the committee’s growth forecast hasn’t changed much. But global growth remains strong and inflation is above target (3.1% in November) and more people are in work than ever before

What will be the impact of the rate increase?

A fifth of people with mortgages have never experienced an increase in Bank Rate. But half of these borrowed after the FPC introduced its affordability stress in 2014, which requires mortgagors to be able to withstand an increase in their mortgage rate to around 7%.

For companies, the share of profits required to meet monthly debt repayments has fallen to its lowest level for at least two decades. Company gearing is much lower than in the run up to the financial crisis.

Brexit

John advised that the FPC will continue to identify and monitor the UK financial stability risks associated with Brexit.

There are a range of possible outcomes for the UK’s future relationship with the EU and a number of possible paths to that relationship. The UK banking system can support the real economy through a wide range of Brexit outcomes. This includes a scenario in where there is no agreement in place when the UK leaves the EU.

Renewal of the RTGS system

Real-time gross settlement (RTGS) service - infrastructure that holds accounts for banks, building societies and other institutions.

On an average day, RTGS settles around £500 billion between banks. Renewal of the system will include higher resilience, wider interoperability and improved functionality

Stress Tests

John closed by discussing the 2017 stress test of UK banks. The stress test scenario allows for more severity than the financial crisis. Therefore no bank needs to strengthen its capital positon in response.

 

On behalf of all the Liverpool, Chester & North Wales committee, we wish all our members a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2018!

2017 is nearly over and the CISI Southern Branch Committee wanted to send their thanks to all of you who have helped, been involved, and attended our events over the year. It’s been a good year for the Southern Branch and as you can guess we have already started to plan 2018. 

We hope that you have a great Christmas and of course a prosperous New Year! See you in 2018, hopefully at the first event in our CISI Southern Branch calendar at the end of January (25^th / AM) at GLive in Guildford. 

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to working with you in 2018.

If you have not used this question before, then I recommend you try it! The question usually stops people in their tracks and is to some extent so neutral that the responses can be as diverse as an individual’s world. Try it on clients, staff and colleagues to see what you get back. The responses can be enlightening, easy to fix, or more deep-seated, revealing a greater underlying issue that needs to be addressed and is the tip of the iceberg of a number of changes the individual wants to address.

I also think the timing of this question is important as we approach the end of the year, 2017, as it can be a time of reflection of the year that has passed. It’s all well and good pointing this question at others, but it is sometimes better to direct it at yourself to ask the same. And…what would you change?

Only you will know the honest answer. I asked the host on my money advice slot on air on BBC Surrey & Sussex radio this week and her response was immediate…’to earn more money!’ Don’t we all (usually) want to do this, but the question is how? As part of a Financial Planner’s role, we often question clients to understand their real needs through searching questioning that can be challenging. This is only correct to make the right advice recommendations. So, asking yourself some thought-provoking questions would not go amiss.

With 2017 fading fast and the prospect of 2018 in sight, and of course the festive season about to descend on us, now is a great time to look at your career, your business, your position to see what you would change. Change is nothing to be feared as long as it is embraced and it could be anything, from more CPD, to a promotion, to a career move…you name it.

Whatever you do, make it happen in 2018. We believe that the prospects for the year look good…and so should yours!   

Keith Churchouse CFP Chartered FSCI
Vice-President CISI Southern Committee