Five minutes with...OCM Wealth Management

A family run business since 2004, they operate as a Chartered Financial Planning Firm, a Discretionary Asset Manager and Tax planning specialist, to ensure a seamless delivery of all services to their clients across Northamptonshire.

Grab a cuppa and read on to see how they have been living the Chartered Ethos.

How long has your firm been Chartered?

14 years

Why is Chartered status important to your business?

We regard the Chartered status as a symbol of the quality of advice we give our clients. It can be very difficult for people to know who to trust within the industry, and we believe that by being Chartered it shows potential clients that we are a professional firm who operate at the highest standard. It also gives reassurance to our existing client bank that we value being able to operate at this level.

Finally, we believe it provides a perfect aid to help train our staff and provide professional guidelines in which to operate.

What initiative has the organisation been involved in which has had a social impact/corporate social responsibility focus on?

At OCM we have always been conscious of our duty to help support a positive social change, and this is something we try to address in various ways and continually review. These include:

• Continuous support of local schools by offering both work experience and internships to university students.
• Financial support of local charities. We are immensely proud to be in our third year of supporting The McCarthy- Dixon Foundation, an amazing local charity that was founded in 2020 to help alleviate hunger and to provide essential supplies to those in need. Rather than offering a one-off donation, we have pledged each year to pay them £1,000 each month, which has allowed them to forward plan what they are able to do. The charity has been able to make such a difference and have been recognised with numerous awards both locally and nationally. In addition to the monthly contribution, staff have also been able to raise money for the charity by events such as corporate football competitions and half marathons.
• We try to ensure we consider the environmental impact of what we do, and in recent years have installed solar panels and electric charge points in our offices. We try to reduce the amount of paper we use and where possible, opt for paperless communications and record keeping. We encourage all staff to use our in-office recycling facilities and have a suggestions box for all staff to use to help us improve this.

How do you ensure your employees remain at the forefront of their profession?

Continuous training is incredibly important to what we do, and we use multiple ways to ensure we support all staff with this. Professional qualifications play a large part in this, and we are keen to encourage those staff who want to continue with their professional qualifications with study plans which are regularly monitored.

We hold a bank of support material which staff have access to if relevant, and a regular 'study group' has recently been set up, where all who want to can join in and study together. This has been especially valuable to those starting off with their qualifications as there is often someone on hand who can help with areas they might be finding difficult.

In addition to this, we regularly run internal training sessions, as well as having external consultants come in to do staff training. Where appropriate, staff also have the opportunity to go on conferences and external training events, and all staff CPD folders are regularly monitored to ensure they are up to date, helping them to remain at the forefront of their profession.

How have you implemented the CII Code of Ethics into your business?

The CII Code of Ethics forms part of all staff induction programmes, and this is reinforced as part of our all-staff annual compliance training and test.

What advice would you give a firm who is considering applying to become Chartered?

I would whole heartedly encourage any firm in the industry to work towards becoming Chartered.

For us, it has meant that we continue to focus our attention on the development of all our staff and making sure that we offer a first-class service to all our clients.

Our clients really appreciate the reassurance that comes with being with a Chartered firm, as they know they can rely on the standards we uphold as part of our membership.

If you would like to learn more about Corporate Chartered status, visit our dedicated page.