Exclusive Interview: George Critchley, Pennine Wealth Solutions

George is the founder and Senior Partner of Pennine Wealth Solutions LLP (PWS) having retired from advising in February 2012. Launched in 2011 PWS provides packaged investment solutions that Financial Advisers may recommend to their clients.

PWS is built on five core principles – value, clear communication, choice, control and preservation of capital – all of which offer investors a range of investment solutions that aim to provide both value for money and better communication about what is happening.

What is Pennine Wealth Solutions?

PWS manages 36 investment portfolios, 4 fund managers, a strong track record, including active/passive, + ground-breaking impact options.

What was the driver for creating the Positive Pennine portfolios specifically – what gap does it fill?

Financial Advisers struggle to recommend sustainable investments because regulation has pushed them to focus on due diligence and risk control. Therefore, they utilise various pre researched portfolios or funds. Typically, multi asset and mainstream. Until now there hasn’t been a large enough universe of sustainable options to create a well researched and risk controlled offering.

PWS with their supporting research from 3D Investing have created portfolios that financial advisers will find very easy to recommend. This is a truly ground-breaking development. Great for advisers and great for their investors.

Who is it primarily for?

Positive Pennine is for all those investors, large and small that still require good investment performance, but care enough to want to do their bit to make the world a better place. Financial Advisers and their clients no longer have any excuses!

What difference do the Positive Pennine portfolios want to make?

The investment management industry has the power to change the views of the firms they invest in. If these firms act with improved processes, morals and ethics then bit by bit our planets future will look rosier. PWS believes where they lead, others will start to follow. PWS believes positive investing should be the backbone of all investors portfolios.

What are the barriers to making that difference?

By creating what we have the regulatory, market barriers for Financial Advisers have now been removed. PWS’s challenge is one of adviser awareness. We are a small, North West based DFM. We need to work hard to spread our message.

Who’s helping you overcome those barriers?

Organisations such as Blue Green are vital to us to make the potential investor aware that a modern solution exists. In addition we are working on the Advisory community, to encourage and educate them. Up to now most Financial Advisers have ignored this option because it is too awkward to recommend.

Are financial advisers doing enough to enable people to invest in a positive way?

No. Sustainable and Impact Investing is very niche in the Advisory world. Very few have got involved.

The rules and regulations that Advisers have worked with make sustainable and impact investing options difficult to pursue. In addition, older Advisers have been cynical to the investment performance of the few funds that have existed for a while. The world has now changed. Sustainable Investors no longer have to sacrifice performance. In fact, in the future there are arguments that sustainable options may possibly outperform.

How can people – such as financial advisers and retail investors – find out more about the Positive Pennine portfolios?

Go to the PWS website www.penninewealthsolutions.co.uk. Our brochure and Impact report can be viewed or downloaded, alternatively talk to one of our accredited  Adviser members.

Pennine Wealth Solutions can only be accessed through authorised financial advisory firms. To explore these portfolios in more detail you can contact True Bearing Chartered in the North West or the online and phone adviser Bread & Butter.