Torquil Clark has won the prestigious Gold Standard Award for Independent Financial Advice for the eighth consecutive year and was presented the award in the House of Commons last week.
The awards are dedicated to identifying firms in the financial services sector that can demonstrate a strong structure and are committed to excellent standards of service.
The Gold Standard Awards are one of the toughest Awards to achieve. As well as taking into account financial strength, the awards assess areas such as trust, fair value, service as well as capability to conduct business. They are designed to identify companies that not only have strong structures and procedures in place, but are going above and beyond standard business practices to restore faith in the financial services sector generally.
The financial services landscape in the UK will change dramatically in the coming years. Not only structurally, but also morally as we witness a growing shift towards more corporate responsibility. Increased standards of professionalism will be at the very heart of the financial services sector in the future. The Awards recognise the efforts of those companies who are taking these changes on board.
Commenting on the Awards, chair of the judging panel, Deborah Benn, says, "The level of interest in this year’s awards bears witness to the fact that there are companies out there who are working extremely hard to promote trust in financial services in the best way possible - by their actions.”
"Torquil Clark's entry was extremely detailed and comprehensive. Their overall capability as a fee-based adviser is very clear. The range and quality of client reviews provided was excellent. A worthy Gold Standard Award winner."
Entrants to the Awards are asked to answer a rigorous series of questions formulated specifically to assess the areas of capability, trust, fair value and service and provide evidence in line with their responses. The baseline for all responses and evidence supplied is on standard requirements to conduct business. However, only those companies that can clearly demonstrate they go above and beyond standard requirements are considered for a Gold Standard Award.