Section 172 Statement

A director of a company must act in the way they consider, in good faith, would be most likely to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members as a whole, and in doing so have regard (among other matters) to:

(a) The likely consequences of any decision in the long term;

(b) The interests of the company's employees;

(c) The need to foster the company's business relationships with suppliers, customers and others;

(d) The impact of the company's operations on the community and the environment;

(e) The desirability of the company maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct; and

(f) The need to act fairly as between members of the company.

When making strategic and business decisions, the directors consider what is likely to lead to the success of the Company and the Group and to be of benefit to the members as a whole over the long term. When making these decisions, the directors also consider the interests of other key stakeholder groups and seek to arrive at conclusions which will benefit these groups as a whole.

The detailed sections below demonstrate the Company’s reasoning for its strategic vision and how this will benefit the Company and its members in the long term and how the Company desires to maintain high standards, whilst acting fairly for members of the Company. Additionally, the sections include the firm’s vision for its employees and their growth and development, as well as the Company’s operations on the Community and Environment.

Strategy

At JM Finn we have a unifying reason for our existence, which we believe is central to everything we do. This reason, or purpose, can be succinctly summed up as follows:

By simplifying the financial challenges that investors face, we protect and nurture wealth across generations.

We are cognisant that wealth challenges come in many different shapes and sizes and often when one least expects it. By putting an investment manager as the main point of contact which we do across all services, we look to develop long term relationships with clients of all ages to guide them through the complex world of investing, so that their wealth can last generations.

This resolute focus on putting an investment manager at the heart of our client relationships helps us stand out in a crowded wealth management industry and has helped us grow into the wealth management business that we are today. We want to protect this business model and therefore have stated a corporate vision that underlines this:

We want to grow responsibly, all the time safeguarding our client first approach and maintaining our reputation for excellent service. 

To help us maintain a focus on our purpose and ensure we are driving the business in the same direction to achieve our vision, we need to do the right thing for our clients and our staff. This is how we ensure we can build on today’s business to create a business that is suitable for tomorrow’s staff and clients. To help us, we entwine three core values into everything we do to help bring the team together:

Accountability: We stand by our actions and encourage independent thought, which drives an appreciation of our role as stewards of our clients’ wealth and focusses our actions towards doing what’s right.

Integrity: We strive to achieve high levels of performance across our business and will not compromise our moral principles.

Respect: For every decision we make, we look at the impact it will have on our staff and clients, ensuring a single-minded focus on respecting the needs of the individuals we interact with on a daily basis.

By understanding our roles and responsibilities and investing further in our people we believe we can continue delivering on our purpose without compromising the high standards we deliver today.

Our five-year plan

Our five-year plan is built around three core high level initiatives designed to help us achieve our vision.

Revenue growth: To maintain our current high standards of service and to allow us to continue investing in the business, we need to improve revenue growth, primarily via new flows with a combination of organic growth and non-organic growth. We will continue to review and evaluate our client proposition to ensure we are talking to the right clients at the right time about the right level of service. We are also looking to enhance our new business processes to ensure we target the right channels when prospecting for new clients.

Cost control: Managing our costs is crucial to sustainable business growth. We will continue to manage this via prudent management alongside a range of initiatives that dovetails neatly with the third pillar.

Simplification: Across both our operational and investment teams, we are looking to simplify and automate our processes and procedures. Automation can help everywhere from internal processes to client communication and servicing to regulatory reporting and monitoring and will allow us to focus on growing revenues, whilst controlling costs in the longer term.

Corporate responsibility

We acknowledge the role we play in our society and our aim is to ensure that our business activities are looked at through the lens of responsibility – to our people, our clients, our environment, our community and our planet.

People

Please use the following link to see JM Finn’s focus on the success and interest of its employees. 

Community

Please use the following link to see JM Finn’s impact on the Community.

Environment

The Company has established a Sustainability Committee and engaged a consultant in 2024 to continue to help to develop a roadmap to achieve Net Zero in line with the Government’s deadline. A detailed carbon footprint analysis was completed in 2023 establishing a base level and JM Finn is committed to comply at a minimum with climate-related legislation.

The Head of Risk and the Chair of the Sustainability Committee are currently responsible for escalating climate related risks and opportunities to the Management Committee and the Board. ESG considerations are captured in an annual business strategy review which then feeds into project and budget requirements. The Board approves the annual strategy.

The Company published its first annual report on detailing our response to the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) in 2024.

The TCFD report is designed to set out the approach on climate change and the risks that are increasingly present. It looks at how the Company manages climate change risk, the opportunities that exist for us and our stakeholders and how this is integrated within the firm’s existing risk management and governance frameworks.

Physical and transition climate-related risks have been reviewed with an anticipated level of materiality and time frame.

The Company acknowledges that the impact of climate change is largely outside of the Company’s control. The Company has low appetite for operational disruption caused by extreme weather which can be mitigated e.g. new office where flooding is an issue or insurance.

The Company will comply with all regulatory and legal requirements that apply to the firm. Where non-compliance is identified during the normal course of business, remedial action plans are required. The Company has low appetite for reputational risk arising from greenwashing. Investment recommendations for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) purposes must be thoroughly researched and supported.

The TCFD report also identifies climate-related opportunities are identified and provides a climate scenario analysis review which ranks the climate change drivers for the Company.

The Company has made six commitments to reduce the operational footprint:

1. Comply as a minimum with all relevant climate-related regulation, legislation and disclosure required by a UK financial services firm.
2. Achieve Carbon Neutrality across our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 and Net Zero across our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in line with Government deadlines.
3. Reduce the intensity-based (per-head) carbon footprint of our organisation by a cumulative 80% in line with the above (from a base year of 2022) across the following areas:

a. Scope 1: Gas Usage

b. Scope 2: Electricity Usage

c. Scope 3: Goods and Services | Waste Management | Business Travel | Commuting | Homeworking

4. Ensure environmental criteria are considered in the purchase of goods and services and renewals of supplier contracts, adhering to the principles of reduction, re-use, and recycling.
5. Improve our environmental monitoring and performance, integrating recognised environmental management best practice into our operations.

To read the full report, please visit: https://www.jmfinn.com/corporate-responsibility-0/

Please refer to the Streamlined Energy Carbon Reporting section in the Director’s report of this annual report to learn more about our Carbon Footprint.

Socially responsible investing

Please use the following link to see the firm’s commitments on socially responsible investing.

UK Stewardship Code

Please use the following link to see JM Finn’s approach to the UK Stewardship Code.

Stakeholder Engagement

The Company believe in forming strong and direct working relationships with key stakeholders, including employees, clients and suppliers.

Employee consultation

The Company places considerable value on the involvement of its employees and has continued to keep them informed on matters affecting them as employees and on the various factors affecting the performance of the Group and Company. This is achieved through formal and informal meetings, including quarterly staff seminars where updates are provided to all staff on the progress of the Company against its strategic objectives and its recent performance. 

Senior employee representatives are consulted regularly on a wide range of matters affecting their current and future interests. The employee benefit trust has been running successfully since its inception on 27 April 2006. In addition, employees are eligible to receive an annual bonus related to the overall profitability of the Company.

Clients

As detailed in the strategic report section, we will continue to put our clients at the centre of our decision making, helping to nurture wealth across generations and provide positive outcomes for our clients.

Suppliers

The Company works closely with its suppliers to help to continue to foster strong working relationships to help the development of the Company and to help the Company achieve its strategic goals. We work closely with our infrastructure and software suppliers to continue to enhance our operating systems to provide the best systems for our employees and portal for our clients.