Categories

Adviser categories

Best Financial Adviser - five or fewer advisers

We are looking for you to recognise firms rather than individuals. Your nomination should be based on a combination of the company’s commitment to the best possible outcome for its customers, business performance and the consistent quality of its advice. The company will have demonstrated an exhaustive knowledge of the product spectrum and the concerns and needs of its client base. A commitment to diversity and inclusion for staff and/or customers should be demonstrated.

Best Financial Adviser – six to 19 advisers
As above, your nomination should be based on a combination of the company’s commitment to the best possible outcome for its customers, business performance and the consistent quality of its advice. The company will have demonstrated an exhaustive knowledge of the product spectrum and the concerns and needs of its client base. A commitment to diversity and inclusion for staff and/or customers should be demonstrated.

Best Financial Adviser – 20+ advisers
As above, your nomination should be based on a combination of the company’s commitment to the best possible outcome for its customers, its business performance and the consistent quality of its advice. It will have demonstrated an exhaustive knowledge of the product spectrum and the concerns and needs of its client base. A commitment to diversity and inclusion for staff and/or customers should be demonstrated.

Best Individual Adviser
This category recognises an exceptional individual adviser for her or his achievements over the last 12 months. The individual can be a representative from any size of firm, including a sole trader. As above, your nomination should be based on a combination of the best possible outcome for customers, business performance, the consistent quality of its advice and the individual’s commitment to her or his profession.

Best Distribution firm for Adviser Support
This category recognises the distributor firm (To include, but not limited to, adviser firms, networks and clubs, conveyancers, surveyors, as well as other support services firms and consultancies in the distribution chain) that have demonstrated new thinking in advice firm support.

This includes, but is not limited to:
Training courses and events;
Compliance services;
Customer contact strategies;
Adviser business development;
Technology innovation

The successful firm will have made a proven positive impact on its own business in the last 12 months, while delivering services that positively enhance the work of its distribution partners.

Other categories

Best Conveyancer
Nominees will provide expert, efficient and practical advice at each step of the process. Successful candidates will have risk and compliance at the heart of their propositions and demonstrate an innovative approach to challenges, while pushing for a consistently faultless service to clients.
Best Surveyor
Nominees will have demonstrated the delivery of a consistently high-quality offering, accurate reports as well as a quick and efficient service. Candidates will evidence digital enhancements to service and a willingness to engage with or lead industry development.
Best Business Development Manager (an individual from any firm - both telephony or face-to-face)
This category is open to individuals from all firms - provider, distributor or support services companies. The award will be given to the individual responsible for business development in a face-to-face or telephony capacity. This individual will always go the extra mile for their advisers. Someone who is always available, knows their business inside out and offers support and guidance to the distribution channels they serve. They will take ownership of the relationships, ensuring that they consistently achieve positive results for the intermediary and their business.

Provider categories

Best Overall Provider for Lifetime Mortgages
For this category, please make your assessment in terms of the combination of both the products and service levels provided in the last 12 months. We are looking for a firm which ensures the best customer outcome via the intermediary and consistently meets the needs of distribution partners with both the right blend of product(s) and a consistently high level of service. A commitment to diversity and inclusion for staff, distribution partners and/or customers should be demonstrated.

Best Provider for Adviser Support, Training and Development
The category deliberates over the highest examples of adviser support from a product provider. This includes, but is not limited to, training and development, compliance services, customer contact strategies and adviser business development. This also includes technology innovation that drives broker efficiency and the delivery of a first-class customer experience. The successful firm will have made a proven positive impact on its own business in the last 12 months, while delivering services that positively enhance the business of their distribution partners. A commitment to diversity and inclusion for staff, distribution partners and/or customers should be demonstrated.

Best Provider for Service
This category focuses on lender service standards and the efficiency of decision-making, underwriting cases, and application processing. Qualities under consideration include: clear up-front communication, consistency and certainty in decision making and standardisation of approach and requirements throughout the application process. The candidate has shown evidence of problem-solving in areas like delays, any application anomalies and also delivering an effective post-completion customer experience. A commitment to diversity and inclusion for staff, distribution partners and/or customers should be demonstrated.

Best Provider for Products
The best provider for products will demonstrate a product offering that considers an effective pricing, criteria, affordability, and accessibility mix which is reflective of adviser and customer demand. They may have challenged the parameters of product design and delivered new thinking on how products are structured, priced and delivered to the consumer via the intermediary. This provider is expanding the equity release market through product development. A commitment to diversity and inclusion for staff, distribution partners and/or customers should be demonstrated.

Best Underwriter
This award category is open to anyone in this discipline at all levels - director, executive or manager. The nominee will have delivered strong initiatives in the last year to improve the quality of business, overall performance and/or controls within the provider which demonstrates that this individual is exceptional. This candidate demonstrates initiatives which have made a clear, visible impact on the business.