Altorfer Financial Management Ltd Independent Financial Advisers

History

Life for Altorfer began in late 1990 on the corner of a borrowed desk in a sympathetic accountant's office. Our authorisations to trade arrived the same morning. Altorfer's founder and Managing Director, Roger Taylor, was soon joined by several staff (notably his P.A. Sue Gadenne) from the company of which he was previously Managing Director, a couple more desks were acquired, and we were in business! Since then we have increased assets under management at an average rate of over £125,000 per week, every single week, since December 1990. Not a bad achievement for such a small company.

Within nine months we had moved into our current courtyard offices, set on three floors. In 1998 the Freehold was purchased, giving us total security of tenure. Meanwhile the number of employees was gradually expanding. Daniel Wackett joined us from Lloyds Bank in 1996. In 1998 Mark Chaplin, a chartered accountant who had been a long-standing client of the company, joined us as Finance Director. Daniel, Mark and Roger, after intensive study, were all awarded the Investment Management Certificate from the Institute of Investment Management and Research.

In October 1998 the then regulator, the Personal Investment Authority, authorised Altorfer to undertake discretionary portfolio management. Our funds under direct discretionary management now stand at more than £76 million.

At the end of 2000, we were joined by Christina Georgiou, previously a Branch Manager and Financial Adviser with Woolwich plc, and Lynn Webb, who had many years' financial experience with Abbey National plc and the Bank of England.

In 2004 Sue Gadenne retired, after sixteen (happy!?) years as Roger's P.A. and Head of Administration. Her role was taken over by Lynn.

Meanwhile our client base was, as usual, growing inexorably, putting increasing pressure on the advisory staff in particular. We therefore appointed Helen Batchelor, now Helen Wake, who had studied Law at the University of Hertfordshire, and was also a qualified Financial Adviser, to assist with our advisory function.

Such has been the relentless increase in workload, Gill Lovelace joined the Advisory team in April 2006. Gill returned to Financial Services after a six year break to have a family. She previously worked for 12 years at Legal & General. Her experience has proved to be invaluable in her role with us.

In August 2007, Katy Calcaterra, now Katy Massey, joined the administrative team, having worked for a number of years in Financial Services.

We believe that knowledge and expertise is fundamental to delivering sound financial advice. Roger and Daniel, who both already held the Advanced Financial Planning Certificate, continued their studies to achieve Certified Financial Planner status. There are only several hundred advisers in the UK who hold this qualification.

The summer of 2010 saw Christina poached to join a City adviser, and this enabled a reorganisation of the advisor support team. By September Rohan Patel, a former adviser with Halifax, had joined as a trainee paraplanner.

In May 2011, Daniel Wackett was appointed to the board, as Associate Director. Daniel, who has been with the company fifteen years, will continue in his position as Senior Adviser, whilst taking on further responsibilities and the inevitable training obligations which this promotion involves.

In June 2011, as a result of increased regulatory workload and the continual flow of additional clients, we appointed another paraplanner to our adviser support team - Louisa Bracey. Louisa brings seven years financial services experience, and is also studying towards the Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning.

Exam training is continuing apace, keeping us abreast of the new regulatory requirements flowing from the Financial Services Authority’s Retail Distribution Review. Mark, Daniel and Roger are currently studying for the Chartered Financial Analyst (Level I) qualification, which is held globally throughout the fund management profession. Helen, Rohan and Louisa are studying towards the Diploma in Financial Planning.

After the long bull market throughout the mid and late 90's financial markets plunged between mid 2000 and March 2003. The FTSE 100 Index fell over 50%. Further turbulence hit the markets toward the end of the decade. Times were difficult, but Altorfer portfolios, based on careful asset allocation and risk management techniques, proved to be remarkably resilient.

Over the years we have seen huge increases in both the level and cost of regulation; our professional indemnity insurance premiums have escalated several thousand percent, and the training budget has become a more significant part of our internal finances. However we have weathered all the storms along the way and are fitter and stronger for it.