Before founding Ayres Punchard, Chris worked in life assurance sales. At the time, providers commonly paid commission to intermediaries when financial products were sold

The cost was ultimately supported through product charges, but clients did not experience it as a clear, direct payment from them to the advisor. Advice could appear free, while an intermediary’s payment might depend on making a sale & vary according to the product being recommended

Chris found that often the first 4 years of a client's premiums went to pay the salesperson's commissions. Prior to that period, the policy was almost meaningless to the client, as the policy had no investment value. With nil-commission advice, by contrast, the policy was more likely to have value to the client from day 1

Chris became increasingly uncomfortable with a system that made the cost of advice difficult for clients to see & did not disclose clear conflicts of interest. In the worst instances, Chris felt the market was purposefully opaque & clients were actively misled by product providers

In 1995, Chris & Wendy built Ayres Punchard around this founding principle: clients should knowingly pay for advice & understand exactly what they receive in return

While this may not seem revolutionary now, at the time there was minimal regulatory enforcement to protect clients & the market lacked transparency

Operating on a nil-commission basis, our time-based fees separated our remuneration from the sale of a product & from the value of the assets placed under management

In many cases, paying us directly has cost clients less overall, because arranging a product without commission has produced savings greater than our fee. Nil-commission advice often results in significantly lower premiums, greatly reduced product charges or substantially more cover for the same premium

Chris also continued developing his knowledge back before financial qualifications were mandatory, treating regulatory requirements as a starting point rather than the limit of professional responsibility

Visible fees make clients more conscious of cost. This requires us to consistently demonstrate the work & value we provide our clients. That pressure was deliberate: accountability should work both ways

In 2012, the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) aimed to transform retail investment advice. It stopped product providers paying commission for newly advised retail investments, raised minimum qualification standards, and required advice charges & services to be explained more clearly

Did it change how we conducted ourselves?

NO ... because (for 17 years already) we had been exceeding the minimum standards of this approach to provide greater client care & transparency

Percentage charging can be appropriate, but it can also cause advice fees to rise automatically as investments grow & create a conflict of interest by connecting a firm’s revenue to the amount of client wealth it retains under advice

Advisers who earn all of their revenue on a % basis may be incentivised to keep assets invested, even when the best course of action for a client's financial plan may be to drawdown from their investments

We retained time-based charging because our primary service remains financial planning & independent advice, not accumulating as many assets as possible under our management

The award followed years of placing sustainability at the heart of our advisory approach: aligning investment strategies with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, publishing our Welsford Reports, scrutinising companies held within the funds used in our clients' portfolios, and challenging fund managers where our research raised concerns

This was not a new direction. Positive impact & social responsibility have always been our goal

This award recognised the same principle that shaped our new charging model designed in 1995: we question accepted industry practice, work transparently, and always put our clients’ interests & values first

In 2019, we launched the Key to the Future (KTTF) as a model portfolio service in collaboration with Peregrine & Black (757727)

We identified a gap for suitable clients seeking much deeper ethical & sustainability scrutiny within their investments

Developing a model portfolio service did not change the purpose of our business. Financial planning & independent advice still come first. KTTF is one possible investment solution considered only after we understand our client's financial cricumstances, assess suitability, and determine what their wider financial plan requires

Our advice fees remain separate from platform, fund, and discretionary-management charges, allowing clients to see exactly how much they pay for each service

28 years after Chris rejected the hidden commission culture of financial services, we chose to put our business under the microscope, again

In November 2023, Ayres Punchard became a Certified B Corporation. We joined a small group of B Corps within UK financial services

We successfully evidenced how our decisions affect our clients, people, communities, and the environment, instead of simply asking others to accept what we say about ourselves

We achieved an overall B Impact Score of 120.1 ... more than 40 points above the threshold required for certification! Our strongest scoring covered the postive impact on our customers lives & key areas highlighted are our investment criteria, portfolio management, transparent reporting, and responsible client stewardship

This provides striking evidence that our purpose is built into the core of our business (not simply added to our marketing), and provides a critical framework against which we can keep measuring & further improving