J.P. Morgan Asset Management confirms sponsorship of IFA Promotion

9 October 2009

J.P. Morgan Asset Management confirms sponsorship of IFA Promotion

J.P. Morgan Asset Management, a worldwide leading asset manager for institutions, individuals and financial intermediaries, has today become the latest sponsor of IFA Promotion (IFAP), the organisation promoting the benefits of independent financial advice.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management will be the 26th sponsor of IFA Promotion, lending their support to the independent financial advice sector and to IFA Promotion’s consumer-facing ‘Find an IFA’ search which is hosted on Unbiased.co.uk, the professional advice website.

Unbiased.co.uk is now in its 20th year and has handled over half a million requests for details of local IFAs over the last year alone.  The ‘Find an IFA’ search has white label versions on over 60 partner websites and media portals, promoting the benefits of independent financial advice to the consumer.  J.P. Morgan Asset Management, the investment arm of J.P. Morgan Chase, is one of the largest active asset managers in the world and provides a complete range of investment solutions for every type of investor.

Karen Barrett, Chief Executive of IFA Promotion said,

“IFA Promotion continues to work hard promoting the independent financial advice proposition to consumers and we believe that we offer great knowledge and insight to our sponsors. We are glad to welcome J.P. Morgan Asset Management onto our ever growing sponsor base.”

Keith Evins, Head of UK Retail Marketing at J.P. Morgan Asset Management said:

“At J.P. Morgan Asset Management we are committed to supporting the IFA market in the UK and it is at the heart of our investment business proposition.  We are delighted to be sponsoring IFA Promotion as we realise their role of promoting independent financial advice to consumers is of major importance to the financial services industry as a whole.”

Earlier this year, Unbiased.co.uk expanded its activity across a range of professional advice searches, including ‘Find a Mortgage Adviser’ and ‘Find a Solicitor’. Unbiased.co.uk currently registers over 40,000 professional advice related terms across all search engines including Google, Yahoo!, MSN and many more, further helping to increase Unbiased.co.uk’s online prominence.

ENDS

For further information on Unbiased.co.uk, the professional advice website pleases contact:

Sign up to Unbiased.co.uk’s unique Professional Connections service, allowing IFAs, mortgage brokers and solicitors to find and link up with other professional advisers across the UK to expand their current business network.

To stay connected to Unbiased.co.uk and for up to date news and views you can now follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/Unbiased_co_uk

For expert commentary or case studies from over 200 media-friendly IFAs, journalists should visit www.unbiased.co.uk/bluebook to search the Blue Book Media IFA database.

Top tips for journalists when using Blue Book online:

1. List and store all your IFA contacts in one place.  As well as having access to the whole Media IFA database on the Blue Book, you can also separately list your favourite Media IFAs.  You can add confidential, personalised post-it notes with extra details to Media IFA profiles.  These will be saved and always appear every time you log back into your account.
2. =Email broadcast Media IFAs.  The Blue Book allows you to email individual favourite Media IFAs for personal commentary or alternatively email a group of your favourite Media IFAs for a collection of opinions on a topic.  You can use the Blue Book online to conduct a straw poll on a specific topic for instance. 
3. Online coverage generated by Media IFAs.  Each Media IFA profile contains links to their most recent online coverage.  This allows you to see what topic Media IFAs have been commenting on recently, allowing you to make a more informed decision as to which Media IFA you wish to speak to.
4. Each Media IFA has a star rating.  This is calculated by how many journalist’s favourites lists each Media IFA appears on.  The more journalist’s favourites lists they appear on, the higher their star rating.  Look at the ‘top rated’ list to find out which Media IFA has the highest star rating.
5. Journalist recommendations.  The Blue Book gives helpful suggestions as to which Media IFAs other journalists have on their list of favourites.  Each Media IFA profile has suggestions as to other Media IFAs you may find useful.
6. Broaden out your contact list of Media IFAs.  Overall, the Blue Book online is designed to help you widen the pool of Media IFAs you can contact for commentary or help with articles you are writing.  Sign up to the Blue Book now in order to take advantage of all these features.

Notes to Editors

Unbiased.co.uk, the professional advice website

Unbiased.co.uk is the free and confidential UK-wide search service matching consumers with the most appropriate local professional advisers for their needs.  In 2008, Unbiased.co.uk fulfilled over half a million searches for local, professional advice. 

The portal currently houses three professional advice searches: ‘find an IFA’, ‘find a mortgage adviser’, and ‘find a solicitor’, and is inviting accountants to sign up for its ‘find an accountant’ service.  These searches enable consumers to find relevant professional advisers by postcode, area of specialism and payment method, amongst other options. 

IFA Promotion, the organisation behind Unbiased.co.uk, is now in its 20th year, and was set up to promote the benefits of independent financial advice to the consumer. 

Unbiased.co.uk’s product provider sponsors

Registered Office: Unbiased.co.uk is the consumer brand of IFA Promotion Ltd, 90 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow G2 5UB. Registered in Scotland: No. 114606