Chase de Vere's chief executive has warned of large restricted firms setting the agenda for the financial advice market.
Stephen Kavanagh said he saw this trend develop over the course of 2017 with the Financial Advice Market Review process.
He said: "We have seen more good quality independent financial advisers being swallowed up by larger restricted firms.
"At Chase de Vere we continue to fly the flag for independent financial advice, although it sometimes feels that we are swimming against the tide as the influence of independent firms continues to decline as larger restricted advice firms and product providers are setting more of the agenda.
"We have seen this previously with the Financial Advice Market Review being a prime example. While supposedly reviewing financial advice, the 'expert advisory panel’ is made up of a large number of product providers such as Scottish Widows, Aviva, Legal & General and Fidelity.
"We are also seeing this in the media, with product providers such as Royal London, AJ Bell, Fidelity and the major life assurance companies getting increasing levels of coverage on financial advice issues in the press.
"We have continued to try and generate positive media coverage, in particular to promote the benefits of independent financial advice."
Despite this, Mr Kavanagh said 2017 had been "positive" for Chase de Vere, adding that the company's revenue and profit figures, when they are published, will demonstrate this.
He said: "We have upgraded our back office systems and have completed our first significant acquisition, when we bought Medical Money Management.
"We have looked at several possible acquisitions over the past couple of years, yet it was the MMM deal that just seemed right.
"It ticked all of the boxes including allowing us to recruit top quality people who share the same beliefs as us, a focus on providing advice to the medical profession, which is a key part of our business, and the opportunity for us to open new offices in Exeter, Liverpool and Sheffield, meaning we now have 16 offices across the UK."
damian.fantato@ft.com
