The MoneyMate and Investor Magazine award for Life and Pensions Broker of the Year for 2007 went to Acumen & Trust, one of Ireland's premier independent wealth management companies. The award recognises companies which "display innovation and competitiveness and continue to put the customer first".

In a competitive marketplace, it is a considerable achievement for Acumen & Trust to be placed first among a host of registered financial advisers. The selection criteria for the award comprised customer service, investment process, innovation & technology and communications/transparency. The panel of judges included experts from the financial and wider business arena, as well as those from academia and industry associations.

"We see the Life & Pensions Broker of the Year Award as recognition of the great strides we have made in the development of innovative systems and processes that underpin a business such as ours," said Liam Church, chief executive of Acumen & Trust. "These systems and processes are formulated to ensure that objectivity and the focus on diversification and risk/return ratios rather than on the sale of specific investment products are paramount in our dealings with clients." 

Acumen & Trust has championed wealth management since its creation in 1996. It defines wealth management as the planning, organising, coordinating and controlling of personal financial resources to achieve a set of objectives, which tend to be related to the growth, preservation or transfer of wealth, taking cognisance of applicable taxation regimes. Personal finance resources include available assets such as cash, equities, long-term investments, property and mortgages, business shareholdings and pension funds. "As wealth increases, people become more aware of the need to deal comprehensively with their financial affairs rather than in an ad hoc fashion," said David Robb, Director of Wealth Management at Acumen. "By structuring income and assets in a tax-effective manner, it is possible to more effectively manage wealth, and the whole area of wealth management will continue to grow as people become more aware of the cost of not managing their wealth."

This is taking place in an environment where there is very little formal management actually taking place but where there are a lot of products and investment opportunities available. The key is in being able to put the resources in place to analyse these opportunities as they become available, compare and measure them and rate them relative to a set of benchmarks.

"Continual innovation and the creative use of technology facilitate a seamless investment process of client profiling, portfolio analysis, risk/ portfolio optimisation and product analysis and selection, culminating in clear, comprehensive investment proposals for clients," said Church. "A dedicated R&D unit is the linchpin of these systems, with continual monitoring of funds and investment research supporting investment decisions."

More photos of the MoneyMate and Investor Magazine Awards 2007