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Peter Oddey has recently achieved an ISO 22222 – a globally accepted benchmark for individuals who provide personal financial planning. Read More »

Peter Oddey of Spectrum Financial Planning - ISO 22222 Certification

Peter Oddey is the Managing Director of Spectrum Financial Planning based in Kings Lynn. Established in 2000 the firm has two core objectives, these are to deliver a market leading service and provide the highest possible levels of professional advice to clients.

Peter has been an Independent Financial Adviser since 1992 and joins other leading professional advisers who are fully embracing the concept of the RDR way of working by building a business that is solid and sound enough to deal with any future market and regulatory impacts.

His initial interest in ISO 22222 came after spending many hours working through the CII examination curriculum and despite gaining a great deal of benefit from the training received, he had become critical of the emphasis that continues to be placed upon the academic and hypothetical approach to the provision of financial services. While he remains aware that our profession is undergoing profound change in uncertain times, the heedless recourse to examination pa/sses as the sole determinant of merit is an impediment to meaningful progress. For him the ISO 22222 process was the means of demonstrating a more holistic aspiration to professional excellence.

Peter finally embarked on his ISO journey on May 6th 2009 when he attended a Training and Gap Analysis Workshop. He was initially attracted to the concept of ISO 22222 because of its focus on high best practice standards and processes which was a project that he and his team had been working on for some time, however it was only during and after the Training and Gap Analysis workshop did he appreciate how much they had achieved but also how far that had to go.

The week after the workshop Peter and his team got together and reviewed the findings from the gap analysis and set on putting in place a plan that would see them implement and exceed the international requirements of the best practice standard.

During the implementation stage, Peter revisited clause 4.1 which states that.. In providing clients with the service of personal financial planning, the personal financial planner shall use documental procedures to respond to and resolve all client complaints and claims, and be supported by financial, security, operational, risk management and business continuation plans.

To Peter this all seemed very straight forward but when he thought about ‘risk management and business continuation plans’ these 6 little words struck a cord because although he had considered these areas as part of the regulatory requirements, Peter needed to ask himself: “What would really happen to our business in the event of a disaster?”

Now disasters to most mean fire, flood, power failure or terrorism, but what about the other potential risks which if realised could have a devastating impact on his business, his team and also his clients.

The most current and talked about potential disaster affecting us all is Swine Flu. I think we can all say that we know someone directly or indirectly that has in some way been affected by this Pandemic. But why is it that firms still continue to ignore these risks and fail to put in place the necessary business continuity plans that include a Pandemic Flu Plan? For Peter working through the ISO process this was a serious concern and one which he addressed immediately.

As a result of a risk assessment Peter was able to review the impact that an outbreak would have on his business and by understanding the potential risks he was able to make the necessary changes to his business continuity plan, but Peter didn’t stop there he scheduled a series of exercises that would allow him to test how his planning would work in practice.

Business continuity is a serious concern and the ISO has a big focus on the provisions that need to be in place in order to run a sustainable and solid business. A concern so important; that on 1st May 2009 the FSA issued a statement which can be viewed at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Communication/Statements/2009/flu.shtml.

After a highly rewarding process of implementation, Peter was ready for his official assessment. As with other assessments our Assessor spent the day with Peter and his team where together they reviewed the improvements and changes that they had made to the operational and client services structure and procedures since the initial gap analysis.

On 16th July 2009 Peter was awarded his ISO 22222 certification, an award truly deserved. The future looks bright for the team at Spectrum Financial Planning as they are soon to embark on a marketing campaign that continues to highlight to their clients new and old the importance that they put upon service standards and the market leading systems and processes that support them.

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The Financial Services Authority does not regulate the activities of tax planning, estate planning or IHT planning.

Spectrum Financial Planning is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (www.fsa.gov.uk/register). FSA Registration No: 433054