Established for well over 25 years, the award-winning Wills & Trusts Group believes in treating clients as people, not just as a number. This “family” philosophy makes the company one of the most highly respected amongst financial advisers.

As one of the few firms of Chartered Financial Planners, Wills & Trusts has the technical know-how to deal with any situation but focuses on the growth of clients’ assets and the protection of those assets so that they pass to the right person at the right time.

Estate planning
Like most people, you want your assets to be passed to your family both during your lifetime and following your death. You want to be sure your wealth goes to the right person at the right time. You will probably want to make sure that you pay no more tax than is reasonable, and in some cases you will want to avoid it completely.

Investment management
You want to earn more on your savings and investments, at the same time, you want to pay as little tax as possible. Most importantly of all, you probably want to minimise any risk that you take. It takes a great deal of time and effort to build your wealth, and you want to protect it for your future and for the future of your family. We actively manage your investments to produce the greatest returns for the lowest risk. We put a premium on making sure you know what is happening and why. Our clients say our programme of client education is like nothing they have ever experienced before.

Pensions management
When you retire you will want to make sure that your pension produces the most income possible, that the income will last for the rest of your life, and ideally increase every year. If anything happens to you, it is no doubt important to you that your spouse will get your pension in full. We treat pensions like every investment we manage. Unlike most advisers, who only look at your pension once a year, we look at it every day, and we ask the question: how can we do better for you?

Compliance Consultant

Wills & Trusts Chartered Financial Planners Ltd is a top 100 Independent Financial Advisory firm based in Thame, Oxfordshire. In line with our strategic growth plans we are currently recruiting for a Compliance Consultant with extensive knowledge and experience of Compliance within Financial Services to join us on a part-time, FTC basis to help us strengthen the compliance procedures we already have in place, and develop robust quality controls to ensure we have operational excellence across the organisation.

The position would suit an individual that has a proven track record of putting compliance processes in place within a FCA regulated environment; is passionate about continuous improvement; capable of advising the leadership team on improvements; can provide training on regulatory updates and is happy to play a hands-on role in the on-going auditing of both the IFA and discretionary Fund Management sides to the group.

Within the role you will play a key part in implementing the Wills & Trusts Compliance plan to ensure the company activities meet FCA regulatory requirements. Typical activities will include:

• Provide advice and guidance on all aspects of compliance for our IFA practice and Discretionary Fund Manager (Trust DFM) including, file reviews, annual compliance audits, TCF gap analysis and implementation, financial promotion approval, recruitment guidance and implementation of T&C scheme. 
• Devise a competency framework to assess Advisers of all levels, including the sign-off of individuals once deemed competent.
• Develop and maintain policies, processes, registers and MI reports to ensure the necessary aspects of regulatory compliance are adhered to and reported
• Design and deliver regulatory training to all team members including, MLV, Data protection etc
• Take ownership for ensuring the business is aware of any regulatory compliance updates
• Interpret regulatory requirements and implement practical, compliant solutions
• Assist with due diligence and on-going compliance
• From time to time you will be required to visit hub sites across the UK to conduct compliance checks and training

Our ideal applicant will have extensive compliance experience within the Financial Services sector with in-depth knowledge of Investments, Pensions and other financial products. An understanding of FCA Handbooks, especially ICOBS, TCF, DPA, financial crime, consumer credit and complaints will be required. You should also have practical experience in the application of FCA rules and regulations.

Whilst building an understanding of our current compliance procedures we require an initial commitment of 4-5 days per week and anticipate this will reduce significantly to 1-2 days per month on a longer-term basis. The initial contract duration will be 6 months although could extend beyond this. The daily rate will be in the region of £300 - £400 per day dependent upon skills and experience.

This is a great opportunity for an experienced Compliance Consultant to join a successful, growing IFA and play an instrumental role in developing our core compliance structures.