The Succession Alliance, a new taskforce created by the Consumer Duty Alliance, has been launched with a focus on improving exit outcomes across the Financial Planning profession.
The taskforce is led by Ben Wright, chief innovation officer of Melo, and a past board director of the Personal Finance Society.
The Consumer Duty Alliance, led by former Personal Finance Society CEO Keith Richards, says the taskforce will help, “by bringing together expertise from across the profession to improve consistency, raise expectations and provide practical education that supports better decision-making” in succession planning.
The Succession Alliance aims to promote greater consistency on how succession processes are approached, improve education and understanding of the full range of exit options, a develop a voluntary charter with minimum standards for those involved in external succession.
The taskforce claims that succession is one of the most significant and least consistently planner or managed challenges facing Financial Planning firms. It highlighted that external succession practices in particular ‘vary widely between buyers and brokers’, transparency is ‘inconsistent’, and incentives are ‘not always aligned’.
Ben Wright, chair of the Succession Alliance, said: “Succession will shape the future of every advice firm, adviser and client. Yet too often it is triggered by pressure rather than being planned with purpose, leaving firms to navigate key decisions without full information or a clear understanding of what good looks like.
“The Succession Alliance exists to change that by raising expectations, promoting minimum standards, and providing practical good practice guidance that helps advisers plan well and exit well, whichever route they choose.”