Nicola Crosbie of Moran Wealth Management Named St. James’s Place Chartered Financial Planner of the Year for 2021

Chartered Financial Planner of the Year, Nicola Crosbie, pledges to use her award to help more people access trusted financial advice

Nicola Crosbie, Director of Lochwinnoch-based Moran Wealth Management, was named the St. James’s Place Chartered Financial Planner of the Year for 2021 at a prestigious awards ceremony in London last month.

Having been amongst the five finalists for the same award in 2020, Nicola was delighted to be named as this year’s winner.

She has pledged to leverage the attention that her award has earned her, to help grow much more widespread awareness of how the Chartered Insurance Institute’s ‘Chartered’ scheme delivers real benefits both to financial advisers, and the public at large.

She explained,

“Having Chartered Insurance Institute “Chartered” status means such a lot to me; not because of the badge but because of the values it stands for: professionalism, sound ethics, responsible business practices and a proven commitment to putting clients’ interests first.

“That’s exactly what I’ve always worked to achieve with Moran Wealth Management Ltd, and I’m lucky to have a great team behind me who share those values.

“If being the St. James’s Place Chartered Adviser of the Year can bring me opportunities to help develop the good reputation of our industry throughout the local community and to support other advisers who are striving to do the same, then that is something that I wholeheartedly embrace.”

Achieving Chartered status is not easy. Nicola explains,

“I saw the value of being Chartered, right from the beginning. It’s like a badge of trust; a commitment to high standards and really rigorous, in-depth understanding, and that was something I wanted to achieve in order to know that I could genuinely, confidently offer my clients the advice they deserve.

“What many people don’t realise, is that the process to become Chartered is really very rigorous. I went through the process quickly as I was really committed to achieving it as soon as I could, but that still meant investing two years of study to accrue the 290 CII ‘points’ that every Chartered Financial Planner must achieve, and sitting four compulsory exams at ‘advanced’ level.

“What I’d like other financial advisers to know, is that all that hard work really does payoff: in terms of your insight and breadth of knowledge, it will equip you with the skills and confidence to provide advice in even the most complex cases.

“And if you’re on the other side of the table, as a client – or even, as someone who has not yet found the confidence to approach a financial adviser and seek advice – it’s worth understanding that wherever you see the CII ‘Chartered’ badge, you really can be confident that the adviser you’re speaking to has made a serious commitment to providing a genuinely expert service.

“Chartered status is achieved by passing exams, but what it stands for is much more than that: it’s a value set. When you look for a financial adviser, if you look for an adviser or a practice that is chartered, then you know that you’re working with someone who has publicly pledged to always put your interests first.

“The Chartered Insurance Institute is the awarding body for our Chartered Status, and if you visit their website you’ll see that they explain, “By choosing Chartered, you are choosing a financial planner who has made a public commitment to professionalism. They must maintain standards of excellence in qualifications, ethics, business practices and professional development.”

With 22 years of financial industry experience behind her, Nicola has been Director of Moran Wealth Management since 2010, and was named a Senior Partner of St. James’s Place Wealth Management in 2020. As well as being a Chartered Financial Planner, Nicola is also a Fellow of the Personal Finance Society, an accredited Society of Later Life Adviser, and holds a master’s degree in Wealth Management from Loughborough University (2019).

Founded by Nicola and her father Michael Moran in 2006, Moran Wealth Management is a Partner Practice of St. James’s Place Wealth Management, giving clients the best of both worlds: the personal approach of a family business, and the peace of mind that comes from working with a global company.

Moran Wealth Management Ltd is an Appointed Representative of and represents only

St. James’s Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the Group’s wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the Group’s website www.sjp.co.uk/products-and-services. The ‘St. James’s Place Partnership’ and the titles ‘Partner’ and ‘Partner Practice’ are marketing terms used to describe St. James’s Place representatives.