Adviser firms still falsely listing Chartered status on Unbiased directory

Multiple adviser firms listed on directory Unbiased are listed as Chartered when the firm does not hold such a status, a problem of inaccuracy on adviser directories that has persisted for a number of years.

In a small investigation, Professional Adviser searched Unbiased using its ‘browse professionals' function and then input random postcodes to generate lists of adviser firms from across the country.

PA put in a Leicestershire postcode, a London postcode, a Brighton postcode and a Yorkshire postcode and then filtered down to search only those listed as Chartered firms. The firms were then cross referenced with the Chartered Insurance Institute's (CII) Chartered firm directory, which confirmed many that were claiming to be Chartered on Unbiased were not on the CII's list.

This is not the first time accusations of inaccuracy have been brought against Unbiased and other directories. In 2017 a Which? investigation found almost two-thirds of adviser businesses may have been posting misleading claims about their qualifications.

At the time, the consumer champion looked into 43 advice firms listed on Unbiased and found 27 of them that claimed to employ certified financial planners did not have a single adviser with the relevant Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments certifications. Advisers were also found to be falsely claiming to have the Society of Later Life Advisers accreditation.

Following contact with PA, Unbiased ran a batch of spot checks on more than 70 advisers listing Chartered firm status and found inaccuracies of nearly 15%.

Unbiased founder and CEO Karen Barrett (pictured) said the directory found many of those appearing as a Chartered firm had Chartered individuals at the firm. She believed there was "definitely confusion" among advisers who thought if they were a Chartered individual it was the same as being a Chartered firm, adding: "We see less issues raised with qualifications that have easily identifiable and differentiated titles."

For an adviser firm to be considered Chartered, a myriad of criteria must be met, including:

At least one firm board member must hold the individual Chartered status
At least one firm board member must take on the role of responsible member, becoming the principal point of contact for the Chartered status
The entirety of the board, along with 90% of customer facing staff, must be members of the CII
At least a quarter of the firm's advisers must hold the individual Chartered status, which increased to 50% from January 2020, which will affect firm renewals
Chartered firm status cannot be accepted from sole trades or companies with one director only

Barrett continued: "Overwhelmingly the vast majority of qualifications and accreditations on our site are accurate. Previously when this issue was raised, we found the majority of inaccurate qualifications were on free basic profiles where the advisers had not actively managed their information and expired accreditations were still displayed.

"As a result, we removed qualifications and accreditations from all basic listings. At the time, we also made changes on our professionals dashboard to separate where advisers added information on their individual and firm accreditations to reduce confusion as much as possible."

The CEO said Unbiased was in contact with the CII and has shared data with them. She urged advisers to review their Unbiased profiles regularly to make sure they are showing the correct qualifications and accreditations.

She added: "In the longer term the best solution in our opinion would be for the Financial Conduct Authority to be the central point of data for regulated advisers, recording authorisations at an individual and firm level and for this to include qualifications and accreditations, enabling services such as Unbiased a robust and resource efficient way of ensuring the data it presents is accurate and up to date for the benefit of the consumer."

CII director of professional standards Melissa Collett said: "We will always take action to protect corporate Chartered status for insurers, brokers and financial planners and encourage members of the public to verify a firm is Chartered by checking our member register."