Executive Chairman
Francis is an expert in pensions and savings in over 40 years of developments. Francis created the first self-invested personal pension (SIPP) (and prior to that setting up Friendly Societies to offer partnerships S.226 Retirement Products) and has been at the forefront of developments in the SIPP market; Self-invested Free Standing AVC’s for those in occupations pension schemes; negotiated with DWP for inclusion of Protected Rights in SIPPs. Francis has been a Committee Member of The SIPP Provider Group and its successor The Association of Member-Directed Schemes (AMPS) (his nominated name accepted by the industry) following the amalgamation of the SIPP Provider Group with The Association of Pensioner Trustees the industry body for Small Self-Administered Schemes for Company Directors and key employees. Francis was also a member of a number of TISA Councils including the Retirement Council. Francis has represented industry bodies in discussions and negotiations with HM Treasury, HMRC, DWP and The Financial Services Compensation Scheme and in earlier years the FSA. Francis has been at the forefront of developments with SIPPs; ISA’s; and GIA investments with leading P2P Investment Platforms with a development list in place of over 15 P2P companies. Uniquely Francis, with a comprehensive knowledge of IT Development, has developed customer centric; multi-product; multi-investment; and multi-currency systems to support his partnerships with co-branding and white label solutions including automated take on of ISA’s from a partner website with STP including Text, Internet, and Secure Email messaging. Francis understands that tax incentivised products such as SIPPs, ISAs, and GIAs stand together for retirement provision. A real evangelist for individuals to take power over their investments and pensions. Francis is currently acting as a consultant to Advisers, Wealth Managers, and other firms in the financialservicesindustryfocusingonP2PinclusioninTaxAdvantagedProducts. Heisalsoajournalist writing for DIY Investor and looking to provide articles to various publications to educate about P2P opportunities in savings.
