About Us

Phillip Bates & Co Financial Services are proud to have been awarded Chartered Financial Planner status by the Personal Finance Society.

The PFS sets standards within the profession to benefit and protect consumers. As a condition of membership, members have to commit to continuous professional development, through learning and examination, to make sure their knowledge is up to date.

To become a Chartered Financial Planner, individuals have to complete a suite of qualifications to the level of bachelor degree (BA, BSc). All Chartered Financial Planners have the highest ethical standards as we are obliged to comply with the Society’s Code of Ethics and Conduct.

You can expect Phillip Bates & Co Financial Services as members to demonstrate and uphold these values in all our dealings with you:

• Integrity
• Professionalism 
• Compliance 
•  Competence 
•  Confidentiality 
•  Objectivity

During the past year or so, the financial services sector has been undergoing some soul-searching in order to determine how it can best serve its clients.This has been led by our regulator, the Financial Services Authority, in order to ensure a degree of consistency and that standards are as high as possible.

This is why we are pleased the new rules will ensure that all advisers are not only qualified to the highest professional standards, but also that they are able to demonstrate their independence of insurance companies and fund managers. One way of doing so – as we already do – is by offering all clients the option of paying fees, rather than having commission deducted from their plans.

The other is by ensuring that the advice given is based on the highest standard of technical knowledge and care, applied to an in-depth understanding of clients’ needs. As Chartered Financial Planners, we are already committed to do this, but are also required to ensure that all advice is supervised by an individual who is personally qualified to the highest possible level.

It is unlikely that existing clients will experience any difference in the way we deal with them; because we already operate to standards higher than those required by the RDR. New clients, however, may find that the way they are treated is far superior to anything they have experienced before; not just because we have ‘gold plated’ the RDR (Retail Distribution Review) requirements, but because we are small enough to care.