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 £120,000 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.

This is the benchmark fund management qualification. 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 £50 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 also in April 2006. Gill is returning to Financial Services after a six year break to have a family, She previously worked for 12 years at Legal & General. Her experience will prove invaluable in her new role with us.

In August 2007, Katy Calcaterra 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.

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 the level and cost of regulation; our professional indemnity insurance premiums have escalated several thousand percent. However we have weathered all the storms along the way and are fitter and stronger for it.