As we move into the deep summer, it is not uncommon for there to be a period of calm as many turn to thoughts of holidays and well deserved relaxation. Parliament goes into recess and it’s a great time to catch up, review and plan for the future. Indeed, planning for the future is exactly what the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) wants us to consider in the raft of papers issued at the end of June. Wow - they have been busy!

I am sure that many of the stand-out papers, such as the Consultation on implementing asset management market study remedies and changes to Handbook paper, was well anticipated by DFMs, IFAs and the like, and was downloaded avidly on the morning of its release, so much so that the site became unavailable for a short time. The link to this paper can be found here: https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/consultation/cp17-18.pdf

But what of the other consultation papers and calls for input in June, such as Advising on Pension Transfers: https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/consultation-papers/cp17-16-advising-pension-transfers and the Financial Advice Market Review Baseline Report: https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/research/famr-baseline-report.pdf

All worthwhile and topical reads, if you have the time (I can think if other things to read by the pool on holiday!), these papers make for good CPD and will focus your plans on the potential future direction of our professions. But the key word here is potential, because many of these publications are consultations seeking guidance and comment from all of us.

Having responded to two FCA papers thus far, I can confirm that, as many of us have great passion for the work we achieve, having the knowledge and conviction to answer the questions posed is not difficult. And you only have to respond to the questions / points that you want to answer. You can email your answers back, or pop them in a letter...so, please do!

Your valuable voice, views, experience and opinions are being requested. And if you have a central office that you think should be responding, check that they do. Shape the future, because it is your future!

Keith Churchouse
CFP Chartered FCSI
Chapters Financial Limited

Magician Zamaan Ismail kept an audience of over 60 captivated at the event, held on 15 June 2017 at Hotel La Tour, Birmingham

View the photos from the ceremony here.

Original singing act The Three Waiters kept guests entertained at the event, held on 11 May 2017 at Devonshire Place, Leicester.

View the photos from the ceremony here.

Guests at the CISI Liverpool, Chester & North Wales branch annual dinner contributed around £3,305 (excluding gift aid) to KIND Children's charity, thanks to two forms of fundraising: an auction and a raffle.

View the photos.

It's great to report that April 2017 was a busy month as ever. Indeed, April turned out to be something of a vintage 'end of tax year/ beginning of tax year' month, despite the way Easter (and the school holidays) fell. 

But April and May of this year both have much 'noise' within them to distract and this can naturally (and from my past experience) make clients and companies defer decisions for their financial planning that they may otherwise sanction. Apart from Trump’s interesting first 100 days in the White House, we have a UK snap General Election to endure and, of course, the French General Election that will focus many minds, both on the continent and further afield. All fascinating in their own right for some, but consuming for others.

Delays in new UK legislation are an issue, but in this case, much that has been deferred is likely to reappear post-election if the current incumbents remain in power, although this is not guaranteed.

This brings into focus the long term nature of the services that all investment managers and financial planners normally offer their clients. Although individual moves, switches and trades might be transactional, our individual and corporate views are invariably for a long term, agreed strategy that evolves over time and is aimed at meeting client needs, such as income production, capital growth or both. I always argue that ‘customers’ generally buy only once, but ‘clients’ are for the long term. 

So, is the noise of the recent and coming weeks important in making investment decisions? Yes. But is it enough to stop a long term investment strategy? I think not.

Keith Churchouse FPFS

Chapters Financial Limited

CISI Ireland held its second awards ceremony on 23 March 2017, in recognition of the high achievements of its members

View the photos from the ceremony here.

CISI Networking Event – Women's Initiative Network with BNY Mellon

13^th March 2017

CISI Liverpool, Chester and North Wales co-hosted a Women’s Initiative Networking (WIN) event with BNY Mellon in the iconic Liver building. The aim of WIN is to support and promote professional development of women in business and finance. Guests had the opportunity to network with other professionals from across the city, raise money for Brook Health and Wellbeing Charity, and even had the chance to update their professional head shots.

Food and mocktails were provided by The Brink Liverpool. The Brink is a recovery social enterprise, meaning all their profits go directly back into the community to fund support for those who have suffered through alcoholism and addiction.

The event was a great success and we look forward to the possibility of co-hosting a similar event in the future.

CISI Education – CISI Educational Trust awards

The CISI Educational Trust Awards annually celebrate achievement amongst students studying CISI accredited courses around the UK, at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Students were nominated by their university based on excellence in an item of work or examination.  

CISI awarded 13 students its 2017 Educational Trust Award with a combined winning of £17,500. Each student receive a financial award to support ambitions for a financial services career. Postgraduate winners receive £1,000 each and undergraduates £500 each.

In addition to their nomination, each winner was invited to submit an essay of 400 words for the opportunity to attend an interview with the Educational Trust and chance to achieve a further financial award based on interview performance, general knowledge test, and knowledge of the CISI. The essay title for 2017 was: "From the customer’s perspective what are the advantages and disadvantages between using a Robo-advisor and a human-advisor?"

Following an intensive interview process, we are delighted to congratulate Adedeji Ajadi of University of Exeter, and Nihit Joshi of Queen Mary University London, the top performing postgraduates who received an additional £2,000 and Daniel Morgans of Aston University, top performing undergraduate, who received an additional award of £1,500. Alexander Johnston of Coventry University received £1,000 in recognition of his high interview standard.

From our own region we would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Olivia Stanton of Liverpool John Moores University on winning one of the 13 awards. A wonderful achievement.

CISI CPD Event - Quantitative Equity Management - Cycle Risk Management

2^nd March 2017

On the 2^nd of March we saw a full house at Investec Liverpool for our CPD event centred around cycle risk management.  Abe Ejikeme , Quantitative Equity Analyst from Carmignac Risk Management, provided a detailed account of how he identifies macro market trends, short and long term cycles and identify the types of stocks, that should out-perform if we understand these cycles. We would like to thank Abe and his team for coming to visit us and hope to see them again in the near future.

CISI Event – Reminder – Liverpool Chester and North Wales Branch Annual Dinner 2017  

Thursday 4^th May 2017

If you haven’t already, don’t forget to sign up to our 2016 Annual Branch dinner. We look forward to celebrating all the hard work of the last 12 months with food, drinks and guest speaker at the Titanic Hotel Liverpool. Our charity partner this year is the wonderful KIND.

KIND is a children’s charity that believes in the importance of investing in the futures of children and works with deprived children in the region to inspire, empower and support them to create a better, more positive future. More details can be found on their website: http://kind.org.uk

WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU THERE. 

Sri Lankan students’ potential careers have been given a boost by the new partnership.

View the photos

Guest speaker Professor Neil Gibson, director at the Ulster University Economic Policy Centre, generated plenty of discussion with an irreverent take on economics and politics.

View the photos

The CISI annual London dinner was extra special this year as we celebrated 25 years since the formation of the Institute.

View the photos

Significant contributions to two charities and a merry audience made the perfect recipe for a successful evening.

View the photos

The Rt. Hon Lord (John) Prescott entertained around 110 guests at the CISI event, held at the Hilton Hotel Bournemouth on Friday 18 November 2016, with the back stories behind his ‘Two Jags’ and the infamous ‘Punch’.

The event raised a total of £1,792.50 for Julia’s House children’s hospice. Julia’s House depends mostly on fundraising and donations to keep its services running, as only 5% of the funding comes in from the government.

Photos from the dinner are available here.

December saw our annual charity drinks event held at the Doubletree Hilton in aid of CHICS.  Raffle and charity auctions (for a signed Liverpool photo and signed Everton Football) were held to help raise funds.

The event successfully raised £728.71 for CHICS and special thanks go to Eddie from the charity who gave a humbling and touching speech about the amazing work they do.  A sincere thank you to all our generous members for donating to such a worthy cause. 

Forthcoming CPD Events

Forthcoming Social Events

Annual Dinner 4^th May at the Titanic Hotel

Annual Football Tournament 1^st September

Annual Netball Tournament 8^th September

 

 

The CISI's held its first Cyprus gala dinner, in partnership with the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), at the Four Seasons Hotel in Limassol on Tuesday 7 February 2017.

View the photos from the dinner here.

The event raised an astonishing £31,100 in pledges and donations for the ATLAS Foundation and its Gurkha Everest Expedition 2017.

View photos from the event here.

The event in the stunning surroundings of the Banqueting Hall at Cardiff Castle generated a collection of £420 for Velindre Cancer Centre.

View photos from the event here.

The inaugural event generated one of the biggest charity collections per head of any CISI annual dinners, with a total of £1,875 collected for Hospice in the Weald.

View photos from the event here.

Guests contributed more than £3,500 for the Lord Mayor’s appeal at the CISI's London Annual Dinner at the Mansion House

View photos from the event here.

Two sporting legends were on top form as they starred as guest speakers at CISI annual dinners.

View photos from the event here.

The CISI East Anglia branch annual dinner was attended by 66 guests, who enjoyed the close-up magic tricks that Olly Day specialises in.

View the photos from the event here.