Helm Godfrey has created a succession plan for its retiring advisers, which will start this month, Graham Cross has said.
The chief executive of the London-based firm said the majority of advisers with the firm had been there since its creation in 1999, with all the founding members still at Helm Godfrey.
However, he said the firm has been considering how to provide the right advisers to take over these advisers’ client banks when the original adviser decides to retire and sell to Helm Godfrey.
As a result, the firm has hired five level-four qualified paraplanners, who will work on a rotational basis with the existing advisers for a period of nine to 12 months.
After this time, if the paraplanners wish to become financial advisers, Helm Godfrey will support them to become chartered and obtain their level six qualification.
He said: “It is all about the relationship. We want to empower these paraplanners to take responsibility, to learn and to build up trust and rapport with the advisers’ clients.
“This way, when the adviser eventually retires, the clients will get the best possible outcome.”
To support the paraplanners, the firm has taken on three IFA support staff, who wish to get their diploma.
Mr Cross added that the process by which the advisers will sell has yet to be ironed out. It could be a percentage of income to the retired IFA over five to 10 years, but this was “not yet set in stone”. The firm is also considering how to share any potential liability as far as PI insurance goes.
At the start of 2014, Helm Godfrey restructured to bring the two sides of the business together: employee benefits and advisory business. As a result, three people, two of whom were not CF30, left.
Helm Godfrey currently employs 70 people, including support staff. Around 25 of the employees are CF30, some of whom are on the employee benefits side.
