PIBA Member Profile
Name : Rosemary Collins Company name : RMC Financial Services Location : Galway Member Since : 2011
Background I qualified as a chartered accountant in 1992, after doing my initial training with Oliver Freaney’ s in Galway, now CAG Chartered Accountants. I then worked for Bank of Ireland for a total of thirteen years, the last six as a Private Banking Manager in Galway City. Prior to setting up on my own, I worked for over five years with one of the bigger Brokerages in the West of Ireland. In BOI Private Banking the focus was on the higher net worth clients, offering advice on investments, retirement planning and succession planning. On joining the private Brokerage it allowed further independence on the advice being offered and the range of services included investments, pensions, deposits, mortgages and protection advice for all clients. Views of Broker industry I am fortunate to have had the experience of working for what was once one of the largest companies in Ireland and then to move to a private Brokerage , as you get a great understanding of the type of issues and worries that clients have to deal with regarding their financial affairs. The Brokers who are genuinely impartial and professional are in a great place right now in comparison to any time over the last 10 to 15 years. The main reason for this is that clients are now willing to seek advice from other financial advisors outside of the banking network, as the trust has broken down between the customer and the bank. And even though qualifications and regulation are no guarantee of integrity, Brokers who commit to being genuine, unbiased, offering impartial sound advice and dealing with the new market realities, while that commitment is very time consuming, will be successful in retaining their existing clients and obtaining new clients. Consumer Protection Code I attended a seminar on the above presented by Elizabeth Smith from PIBA, which was an excellent presentation. I am being honest when I say it was not an easy seminar to sit through after your first week as an impartial Broker. What I mean by this statement is that as a chartered accountant with QFA certification and having gone through all the procedures of getting authorised by the Central Bank, at the end of the seminar I wondered whether for us as Brokers, file compliance is now superseding the actual good unbiased advice being offered to clients. It should not be one or the other. The greatest compliment that I have received from a client (thankfully many times) is a referral to a colleague or family member. As it stands now, I may have to wait until that family member or colleague calls me! Business Focus My business focus has not changed since the year I started to work. Work hard, be honest and have an interest in your job and an interest in the people you meet: somehow it works and people then have an interest in you and in your business. Within all areas of financial planning, retirement planning is an area where there have been enormous changes over the past few years. There are so many options for clients now that it is very difficult for customers to decide what is the best route for them to take. It is very important that clients gain an understanding from their advisors of the options that are available to them. Succession planning is another area I believe clients will put more focus on going forward, as the thresholds have reduced significantly and the tax rates have increased substantially over the past few years. Downtime If I could go to the Alps every weekend I would but I guess RMC Financial Services is a bit in the early stages yet! I took up skiing five years ago and I love it. I have two children aged 11 and 14, and anyone with children knows there is very little down time when there is hurling, soccer, music lessons etc. I could say that I’m training for the Dublin City marathon in October 2012, but that would not be very honest, since one lap of the racecourse in Ballybrit does not suffice as training! But I’m working on it!
