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As always, information is the key to successfully making
the best use of these opportunities.
Perhaps you know exactly what you want to do and can work
through an efficient dealing-only service, but virtually all
investors will need genuinely unbiased and professional advice
from a truly independent and qualified adviser to make the
most of their investments.
And this is where APCIMS members come in.
All of our members are highly professional investment advisers,
trained and regulated to the highest standards and committed
to providing the full range of services to private investors.
Above all they are approachable, friendly and easily accessible,
wherever you live.
The Association was formed in 1990 to represent the interests
of stockbroking firms which specialised in providing services
for individual investors, or private clients as they are often
known. The need for APCIMS arose largely because of the changes
in the London Stock Exchange some 10 years ago, known collectively
as the Big Bang.
Although more than half of Stock Exchange transactions were
(and still are) for private investors, their interests were
increasingly being overlooked. With so much change in the
operation of the Stock Exchange in prospect, the need for
an effective trade association to balance the powerful influence
of the major investing institutions became pressing.
In 1994, our membership was extended to include those investment
managers who, like stockbrokers, deal in, advise on, or manage
direct investment in individual securities for personal and
other non-institutional investors. And in 2002, the members
of the European Association of Securities Dealers voted to
merge into APCIMS. This expansion to include other organisations
providing comparable services has increased our strength and
our standing. Although, like all groups, APCIMS was established
to represent the interests of its members, it also has a clear
responsibility to look after the best interests of those members'
private clients.
There is a deep commitment to helping investors and, through
APCIMS, our members and the private clients they serve are
individually and collectively stronger and better represented
than ever before.
Since its launch, APCIMS has grown rapidly and now represents
well over 90 per cent of private client stockbrokers and the
vast majority of private client investment managers. Between
them our members operate more than 400 offices throughout
the UK and Ireland.
The Association is recognised by H M Government and all the
leading industry authorities (including the Bank of England,
the London Stock Exchange and the Financial Services Authority)
and is consulted and involved in all the issues of the day
where private clients are concerned.
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