‘Youngsters have fresh ideas – advisers can benefit from a different perspective’
This fervour has to some extent been moulded by his experience in his previous posts as the chairman of the Confederation of Apprenticeship Training Agencies – which boasts the Duke of York as a patron – and chief executive of South London Business – where he delivered one of the first Apprenticeship Training Agencies (ATA) in England.
At the start of the millennium, Mr Pledger was appointed by the Secretary of State as executive director to lead London West Learning and Skills Council, and was responsible for the annual planning and funding of post-16 education across six local authority areas.
It is therefore unsurprising that Mr Pledger, who began his tenure with NSAFS in January this year, has earmarked injecting new blood into an aging adviser community as one of his key goals.
The NSAFS currently offers an apprenticeship programme in which regional development managers and business development managers at the company work with employers to help identify training needs and suggest suitable solutions.
Mr Pledger mused on the idea of an operating framework within the NSAFS, which is not too dissimilar to the process adopted by ATA which recruits, employs and arranges training for apprentices on behalf of employers.
He added: “Many advisers are reluctant to employ and train young people because they do not have the time or resources to do so. However, doing so can add real value to adviser firms.
Many advisers are reluctant to employ and train young people because they do not have the time or resources to do so“Youngsters have fresh ideas – advisers can benefit from a different perspective. If you are going to sell to the millennials, you have to have individuals in the business that understands and can relate to them.”
The NSAFS, an independent charitable organisation, and body for training and development in the financial services industry, launched in May 2007 with the backing of the FSA to bridge the skills gap. It does this by providing training and development from entry level through to continued professional development.
It offers support to firms within the financial services sphere in recruitment, induction and skill development, and boasts a suite of products and services. These include online modules on regulation and soft skills workshops, aimed at helping employers streamline their business models.
Succession planning is one of the key areas the body provides guidance on specifically for financial advisers.
Mr Pledger said: “One thing that is critical for advisory firms is to have that long term plan. The plan cannot simply be based on replicating the past because what happened in the past is not necessarily going to happen in the future and things are changing drastically – technology is one of these things.
“There is an idea that in the future people will receive financial planning through an app. This may happen, but if I could predict the future, I would have picked the numbers for last Saturday’s lotto draw.
“I do think that people will get financial advice online at the first instance and then employ the services of a financial adviser at a later stage. There will be issues over how the online advice will be regulated.”
Mr Pledger argues that robo-advice may facilitate the needs of individuals who are unable to access traditional financial advice because the value of their pension pot does meet the average minimum threshold adopted by advisers.
While the value of practical support should not be understated, Mr Pledger believes that helping companies to instil a good ethics framework is of equal importance.
He said: “The financial services sector got bashed after 2008, but there is this myth that the sector had a good reputation before then. I think people who hold these views need to wake up to the fact that it was not brilliant before.
“There will always be smart people who will find a loophole in regulation, but people need to behave in an ethical manner. Ethics can help a business and ethics can kill a business, and good ethics is good business. Ethics does not mean not working for profitability, but you can and should do that in an ethical manner.”
The body also co-ordinates major national projects with the aim of providing basic financial literacy among the wider community.
The organisation received government funding up until 2010, but is now funded by sponsors operating in the financial services sector, including Ageas UK, Aviva and Prudential. It also receives funding for specific projects, which it conducts on behalf of private sector companies.
Mr Pledger said he wants the company, which was awarded its charitable status in 2009, to be viewed differently to conventional charitable organisations.
He said: “We do not go out with a bucket to collect money, and we do not ask for donations because we don’t want to be that type of charity. I want people to support us because we are doing something for them. If someone did want to send us a check for £1m I would not say no to it.
“The money we generate goes straight back into the pot, so we can deliver more value to meet our charitable objectives and our objectives to serve the sector.”
PETER PLEDGER’S CAREER LADDER
2016 – present, Chief executive, National Skills Academy for Financial Services
2015 – Chief executive, Business Development and Skills Start-Up Consultancy
2014 – Chief executive/executive director/consultant, London College of Beauty Therapy
2011 – 2013 – Chairman and director, Confederation of Apprenticeship Training Agencies
2007 – 2015 – Governor, St Mary’s University, Twickenham
2007 to 2014 – Chief executive, South London Business
2006 – Director, PPS Consultancy
2000 – 2013 – Non-executive director, Greater London Enterprise
2000 – 2006 – Executive director, London West Learning and Skills Council
2000 – 2006 – Executive director, Learning and Skills Council
1999 – 2000 – Deputy director, London TEC Council??
