Two young North East finance professionals have graduated from a bespoke training academy to join a team of financial advisers dedicated to making financial advice accessible to people across the North East.
Rachael Benford and David Simpson of Newcastle Building Society have completed the ‘Ocademy’ financial adviser training scheme run by Openwork, one of the UK’s largest financial services distribution networks.
Having gained a QCF Level 4 Diploma in Financial Advice, they are now qualified financial advisers with Newcastle Financial Advisers Limited, the Society’s financial advice arm.
David has become a financial adviser at the Society’s North Shields branch, while Rachael, who is currently the manager of the Society’s Yarm branch, will shortly be moving across to a financial adviser role in Hexham.
Newcastle Building Society’s adviser arm teamed up with Openwork in 2015 to launch what was one of the first partnerships of its kind in the building society sector, to provide a bespoke training programme for talented colleagues within the Society to train to become professional financial advisers.
It forms part of the Society’s comprehensive training and development programme, designed to help colleagues realise their potential and build meaningful careers within the organisation, a programme which also contributed to the Society recently being awarded the prized ‘Gold’ Investors in People standard.
Stuart Dodson, managing director at Newcastle Financial Advisers, says: “It took a great deal of hard work and dedication from David and Rachael to successfully complete their Diplomas in Financial Advice, and we are extremely proud of their achievements.
“The Society continues to invest in providing face-to-face financial advice to customers at a time when many other High Street providers have moved away from offering this service. Financial advisers are available in our branches across the region, and we are committed to providing accessible financial advice to help our customers plan and manage their financial options.
“Nurturing the talent we have is hugely important to this offer. Our staff are loyal and share our enthusiasm when it comes to the communities we serve, and it’s important we reward that with the opportunity for real and meaningful career progression.
“Ocademy is a great training opportunity for staff who have the ambition to become financial advisers, and we are seeing five other members of staff working towards following in Rachael and David’s footsteps.”
Andrew Haigh, chief executive at Newcastle Building Society, adds: “Providing career development opportunities such as this is essential for both our own success and the contribution we can make to the success of the wider regional economy, and we are fully committed to being a great place to work in which people can realise their potential.
“Rachael and David have performed exceptionally to achieve these results, and we’re confident they will be the first of many to benefit from these bespoke training and development opportunities we’ve put in place.”