IFA Promotion appoints David Elms as its new chief executive officer
The Board of IFA Promotion has appointed David Elms as its new chief executive officer. David Elms was previously IFA Promotion's head of PR and marketing and has been running IFA Promotion since May 2000.
Douglas Claisse, chairman of IFA Promotion, commented: "The past seven months have been the most successful in IFA Promotion's history. In no small part this is due to effort and talent that David has shown. The Board is impressed with the progress the company has made under his leadership."
Key achievements since May 2000 include:
- Record IFA membership of IFA Promotion - now standing at well over 9,000 IFA offices.
- Over 130,000 people used IFA Promotion to find an IFA in 2000, an increase of over 40% on the previous year.
- According to William M Mercer, IFA Promotion's activities generated between 8 and 14.5 million of income for IFAs in the year to September 2000, an increase of 1 million on the previous year.
- During 2000 IFA Promotion ran more advertisements than ever before on TV, the Internet and in the national, consumer and trade press.
- During 2001 IFA Promotion has introduced new freephone hotline numbers and a new service for businesses looking for an IFA. In addition the IFA Promotion member database has been substantially improved to allow consumers more flexibility than ever before in finding the right IFA for them.
- In 2000 the number of people reached by IFA Promotion's PR campaign hit its highest level since 1996.
- Within the past few weeks IFA Promotion has substantially improved its online "find an IFA service" available at www.unbiased.co.uk. Over 60% of people who contact IFA Promotion now do so online, many through the new "white label" find an IFA services IFA Promotion runs on the www.thisismoney.com, the www.scotsman.com and www.moneyeXtra.com websites.
David joined IFA Promotion in 1998 from Eagle Star, where he was editor of Eagle Star Magazine and responsible for sports sponsorship. His career includes three years as Marketing Services Co-ordinator at Merchant Investors Assurance, eight years at Black Horse Agencies in financial services sales management. He started his career in administration at the Sun Alliance Insurance Group.
For further information please contact:
| Douglas Claisse Chairman IFA Promotion 020 7833 3131 | or | Richard Winder/ Shellie Wells Lansons Communications Tel: 020 7490 8828 shelliew@lansons.com / richardw@lansons.com |
Notes to Editors
1. Independent Financial Adviser Promotion
Independent Financial Adviser Promotion Ltd. was established in 1989 to promote the value and accessibility of independent financial advice to the public. It represents over 9,000 registered individual independent financial advisers across the UK and is sponsored by 31 leading financial institutions. In 2000, over 130,000 people contacted IFA Promotion for details of local independent financial advisers.
IFA Promotion's central belief is:
"Consumers have a right to financial advice that is independent of the providers of financial products - i.e. independent financial advice."
Furthermore independent financial advice should be:
- Affordable. The option to take independent financial advice should be available, by right, to all - not just the wealthiest in society.
- Convenient. IFA should be available in the location of the consumer's choice, wherever they live in the UK.
- Transparent. It must be clearly transparent to consumers who is able to offer independent financial advice and who is not.
2. Independent Financial Adviser Promotion's sponsors
| Barclays Global Investors Funds BUPA Canada Life Clerical Medical Investment Group Dresdner RCM Funds (UK) Ltd. Eagle Star Family Assurance Friendly Society Ltd Friends Provident INVESCO Fund Managers Ltd Investec Asset Management Legal & General Mercury Asset Management National Mutual National Savings Norwich Union Life NPI | Prudential Intermediary Division Scottish Amicable Life Plc Scottish Equitable Plc Scottish Life Assurance Company Scottish Mutual Assurance Plc Scottish Provident Institution Scottish Widows plc Standard Life Assurance Company Sun Life Swiss Life (UK) plc The Skandia Group of Companies Tunbridge Wells Equitable Friendly Society UNUM Ltd Winterthur Life UK Ltd Zurich Life Assurance Company |