Truly
Definition – “with sincerity; without pretence; in accordance with truth or fact or reality”.
Independent
Definition – “free from external control and constraint: not controlled or influenced by a party or interested group”.
In general terms, Independent means the ability to recommend products from the ‘whole of the market’. In further terms, Truly Independent means the ability to recommend products from the ‘whole of the market’ and to provide truly impartial advice without product provider influence or governance.
If a Financial Adviser is not tied to a product provider such as a Bank, Life, Pensions or Investment Company, they are usually known as Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs for short). The Independent title is affixed to Financial Advisers to promote their impartiality. However, all too often this is not the case.
Some Independent Financial Advisers are funded or even owned by product providers (Life, Pensions and Investment Companies) and even if this is not the case, the Adviser can be easily influenced to use certain market products by use of high commissions and corporate hospitality.
An Adviser can only claim to be truly independent when they are 100% free from influential controls by product providers in areas or funding, ownership, high commissions and corporate hospitality. Truly Independent Limited is committed to maintain the ethos of providing accessible independent financial advice without being adversely governed or influenced by others. Only our regulators will bind us. Only then can Clients be certain of the impartiality of our advisers.