“As time has progressed, we have found that we increasingly work with advisory networks to help provide benefits to the networks themselves, and also to the advisers and advisory businesses under their umbrella,” Feifa chief executive Paul Stanfield said.
“In addition, we are regularly and increasingly approached, by both existing Feifa member firms and advisers, and those outside of the Federation, with regards to the available and relevant networks operating across Europe.
“It has become evident that to introduce such entities to a network we need to be sure that the latter is appropriately regulated, with minimum business standards and processes in place.”
For these reasons, Feifa said it was a natural progression to formalise the relationship with key network partners and create a category of Network Membership.
“With regards to advisers and firms who are potentially interested in networks, we will now exclusively introduce them to only our Network Members, safe in the knowledge that we have conducted our own relevant due diligence on those networks,” Stanfield said.
“This makes for a more professional and robust process, which should benefit all parties.”
The more formalised affiliation also makes it easier for Feifa to assist a network and its advisers in areas such as professional development and training, business transitioning and European regulatory matters, the Federation said.
