Financial Adviser started with a team of reporters who are now CNN heavyweights and best-selling authors.
Thirty years ago, Colin Chapman, who went on to be internationally renowned for his business television work for Australian company ABC, was the founding publisher and editor of Financial Adviser.
He began work in February 1987, on the first edition of Financial Adviser, which came out in April 1987.
With just eight weeks to go before financial advisers were set to receive their first copy of the newspaper, there were no offices, no staff and no telephones.
Speaking to Financial Adviser when the trade newspaper turned 20 years old, Mr Chapman recalled: “The first thing was to find offices. I had one member of staff and I sent her off round the City looking for notice boards advertising offices to let.
“We found our first offices in Smithfield. The best thing was being able to get cheap cuts of meat.
“Then we called BT and told them we needed telephones for 30 peoples and four lines. They said it would take 15 weeks.
“I hand-delivered a letter to (then prime minister) Margaret Thatcher at Downing Street. I complained that the government may want to encourage private enterprise and new business, but that we were being held back by the newly privatised BT.
“Sir Bernard Ingham, who was her PR man at the time, called the next morning to tell me the phones would be in the following day.”
The launch of Financial Adviser came just a year after the Financial Services Act of 1986 regulated the industry and at a time when intermediaries were trying to make sense of what the new rules meant for them.
One of its most famous chief executives was the hard-nosed Godfrey Jillings who appeared in our Regulation Street cartoon strip as a bloodthirsty axeman.Kevin O'DonnellThe act used a mixture of governmental regulation and self-regulation, and created a Securities and Investments Board (SIB) to preside over various new self-regulating organisations (SROs).
However, the publisher of Financial Adviser was far from the only one to spot this new regulatory landscape for intermediaries meant there was a thirst for information on what this all meant.
Finding our feet
Speaking at the time of the newspaper’s 20th anniversary, Mark Van de Weyer, who managed Financial Adviser when it was in its infancy, said everyone had the same idea to launch a trade title for intermediaries at the same time.
He said: “It was all about controlled circulation and winning the advertising.
“One of the four competing titles, belonging to VNU, lost its nerve within 18 months. The Emap title lasted a little longer, but not much. It was an exciting time to be involved.”
The number of rivals trying to grab the attention of financial advisers was far from the only challenge facing this newspaper back then.
Getting techie
A lack of computers – no tickers or internet feeds – meant when the stock market crashed in 1987 the reporters of the day only discovered this when contacting City traders about other issues and learning what was going on because the people they were calling were scrambling as share prices plummeted.
However, while it might have not been cutting edge when it came to technology back in 1987, Financial Adviser in the early days was innovative and groundbreaking in other ways – making sure it not only survived, but thrived while others stumbled and failed.
By 1995, when current Financial Adviser columnist Kevin O’Donnell was promoted to editor, editorial awards started to flow in and the title took the decision to regularly tackle the biggest challenge for IFAs – regulation.
Mr O’Donnell said: “The Financial Intermediaries, Managers and Brokers Regulatory Association was a constant source of news and entertainment.
“One of its most famous chief executives was the hard-nosed Godfrey Jillings who appeared in our Regulation Street cartoon strip as a bloodthirsty axeman.”
Regulation Street continues today, as Financial Adviser – as well as delivering what intermediaries must know to do the best by their clients and make a profit – still understands you also want some light relief from the daily grind.
Having our fun
Back in 1987 Financial Adviser was the first Financial Times title to include Fantasy Football.
These fun features continue to this day. Last year, Liontrust sponsored our competition where intermediaries could pick their favourite tournament team to coincide with the 2016 European football championships in France.
So, while today’s Financial Adviser team may now be sat with Wifi on their smartphones, able to access a constant flurry of stock market news, some things remain the same.
As founding publisher and editor Mr Chapman so nicely summed up at the time of our 20th anniversary: “What pulled us through (in 1987) and then made us successful was more news, better journalism and less puffy press-released stuff.”
These words were as true then as they are now and I believe this approach is what will continue to make Financial Adviser a success.
Emma Ann Hughes is the Editor of Financial Adviser
emma.hughes@ft.com
