Irongate – Using our Strengths to Serve Others
We manage the investments of private individuals as well as pension funds, trusts, charities and companies, with our primary objective being to maintain and increase our clients’ wealth whilst minimalising the potential for permanent capital loss.
Our Areas of Expertise
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Who We Are
Irongate is a boutique Wealth Management firm located in the Cotswolds but with clients all around the UK.
Founded in 1999, we manage the investments and finances of individuals, trusts and businesses with our primary objective being to maintain and increase our clients’ wealth.
- We always do what we say we are going to do.
- We aim to provide a high standard of service.
- We aim to be helpful in everything we do.
- We will always act with integrity.
What We Do
Working with our clients we determine what it is they wish to achieve and when they want to achieve it. We then formulate a plan to help make it happen and most importantly we constantly monitor it to check that we are on track to deliver it.
Our Private Client division looks after many families and their children as well as those who may unfortunately be bereaved or divorced and for the first time might be faced with the complexity of having to run their own finances.
Our forward thinking approach has helped those in the workplace “retire” early to do what they really want to do in life.
Our tax planning has allowed inheritances to cascade down to the next generation whilst helping to plan for sufficient funds to meet the ever increasing need for long term care.
Whilst Investment Management is at the core of what we do, we offer a comprehensive range of ancillary services in order to provide a total Private Client offering.
How We Do It
We understand the critical responsibility we are given when clients entrust us with their money.
That’s why we decided to take a radical and effective approach to investment management through the support of St. James’s Place who concentrate on identifying those individuals around the globe who have the potential ability to achieve superior investment performance.
It’s an approach that underpins and complements the quality of advice and service provided by us. By becoming a Partner Practice of St. James’s Place it gives us the freedom to focus on what we do best - helping our clients plan their finances - supported by the knowledge that the selection and vital day-to-day monitoring of those managing our clients’ money is being done by experts.
Put simply, the role of St. James’s Place is to ‘manage the managers’ on behalf of our clients. To achieve this they focus on three key areas:
- Selecting the best investment managers through a rigorous global research process
- Continually monitoring the managers to ensure they maintain the standards for which they were selected
- Changing managers where necessary through a seamless transition process which avoids any charges or tax consequences for investors
A vital ingredient is wrapping the investment within tax efficient structures that maximise the allowances and reliefs available to individuals which aims to help enhance the income and growth that can be achieved.
The value of an investment with St. James's Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds selected and may fall as well as rise. You may get back less than the amount invested.
The levels and bases of taxation and reliefs from taxation can change at any time. The value of any tax reliefs depends on individual circumstances.
Our Commitment
Deciding where and when to invest is only the first step towards building and protecting your wealth. It is what happens after the investment is made that will determine whether the outcome meets your expectations.
From the moment that you decide to become a client, we aim to demonstrate the value of this relationship through the service that we deliver to you.
We will keep you informed as to how your investments are being managed by undertaking regular face-to-face and telephone meetings and giving you access to on-line valuation services and investment reports.
In order to help you to keep up-to-date with the ever-changing political and financial landscape, we have access to a team of specialists who assist with the interpretation of government policy, tax legislation and changes to the macro-economic environment and global investment markets.
Safeguarding Your Assets
The key issue for all investors is the reassurance that their investment is protected in the risk that the provider of the investment becomes insolvent and is unable to satisfy its responsibilities to investors.
Of course, investors should recognise that their investment may fall in value if markets move against them. This is the market risk all investors bear.
There are five main statutory and regulatory controls to protect investors across the entire range of products:
1. ASSETS
Firstly, it should be acknowledged that whatever investment product you hold, St. James’s Place actually holds the assets (i.e. shares, bonds, property etc.) to back your investment. This approach differs from the process for deposit based investments with a bank or building society, where typically money deposited is used to finance long-term loans to other clients and they may not have sufficient reserves available for clients to access their money when they might want it back
2. SAFEKEEPING OF ASSETS
The next level of protection comes from the controls that ensure the invested assets are kept securely and held by an independent external custodian bank. St. James's Place use the AAA rated globally recognised custodian bank, State Street Bank & Trust Company. In addition to being independent of St. James’s Place, the custodian is also regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority.
With regards to a unit trust (and those held within an ISA), the unit trust is established by a legally binding trust made between the trustee, BNY Mellon Trust & Depository (UK) Limited and St. James’s Place Unit Trust Group (SJPUTG). This means that the assets of the trust are protected should the manager (SJPUTG), go into liquidation. There would, and could be no claim on clients’ investments because the trustees are the legal owners and the clients are the beneficial owners.
Similarly, if the trustees went insolvent, whilst they are the legal owners, they are not the beneficial owners and thus there could not be a claim on the investments by the creditors of the trustee.
3. REGULATORY PROTECTION
The solvency of St. James’s Place is closely monitored both by its Board, with advice from an independent actuary and it’s regulators the Financial Conduct Authority, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Central Bank of Ireland. They take all reasonable steps to ensure the company is able to meet both its current and future commitments.
As a further safeguard the regulators require St. James’s Place to hold an additional solvency ‘margin’. This provides a further level of protection and ensures that if the company does get close to trouble it has a buffer to be able to resolve any immediate issues and to meet its future liabilities. In practice, the company’s management aims to maintain a significantly greater margin than the required minimum solvency level.
4. INDUSTRY COMPENSATION
The final level of protection available to individual clients holding an investment with St. James’s Place is the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The level of cover provided for UK pension and UK bonds and international investments is 100% of the claim with no upper limit.
5. GDPR
Irongate Wealth Management complies fully with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This is an evolution in how we manage and control personal data, building on the existing principles of the Data Protection Act to reflect the increase in data usage as new technologies continue to develop. All appropriate technical and organisational measures have been taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of current data and against accidents, loss or disruption of or damage to such data.
Irongate Wealth Management systems are protected with encrypted online Attix5 backup. Internal systems use the latest security patched software.
Our Trusted Partnership
James Scott-Hopkins founded Irongate in 1999 having previously been involved in the Management Buy-Out of Johnson Fry Financial Services, an Independent Financial Advisory (IFA) firm in London. Having exited that he considered remaining an IFA and could have been either directly regulated or part of a network. He decided instead for his new firm Irongate to become regulated via St. James’s Place as he considered their investment management approach superior to what was available in the IFA arena along with their huge pool of in - house technical expertise. James had known one of the founders of St. James’s Place, Mike Wilson from when they were both at Hambro Life. There was no doubt in James’s mind that the partnership with St. James’s Place offered his clients the best in terms of investment management at a level simply not available at the time via the IFA route. This conviction remains today and is cemented in the much broader range of services available through what has become the largest provider of wealth management in the UK and a FTSE100 company.
Irongate is a Senior Partner Practice of St. James’s Place
Wealth Management
The value of an investment with St. James’s Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds you select and the value can therefore go down as well as up. You may get back less than the amount invested.
Irongate is a trading name of Irongate Ltd, which is registered in England & Wales No. 3855729. Registered address: Ashgrove Farm, Jackbarrow Road, Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 7LB.
Irongate is an Appointed Representative of and represents only St. James’s Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the Group’s wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the Group’s website www.sjp.co.uk/products. The title ‘Partner Practice’ is the marketing term used to describe St. James’s Place representatives.