Role Description
The Client Support Team Leader role is to lead and manage a small team of client support staff, ensuring the delivery of high-quality administrative and customer service support to financial advisers and their clients, in accordance with regulatory requirements and business standards.
Core Experience & Competencies
- Previous Experience of Intelligent Office.
- Strong knowledge of FCA regulations, TCF, and compliance principles.
- Strong customer service ethos – able to build relationships of trust across a diverse client base.
- Process driven – able to follow defined processes to evidence adherence to PFS standards and policies, regulatory requirements and any other compliance demands.
- Attention to detail – working with the Adviser, Support Team Manager and Paraplanner(s) to ensure that clients have all the information they need in order to review and make decisions about their investments; that providers have the correct details to carry out client instructions; and that all information is recorded in IO.
- Problem solving – able to find solutions to issues and non-standard situations as they arise, ensuring appropriate escalation and recording in line with complaints processes and/or feedback to ensure continuous improvement on PFS processes.
- Collaborative Communicator – building relationships across the various teams and able to work with colleagues at all levels of the organisation.
- Able to prioritise, manage and delegate workload – work with your team, Support Team Manager, Adviser(s) and Paraplanner(s) to understand and prioritise client-based workload.
- Excellent organisational and time-management skills.
- Strong written and verbal communication abilities.
- Ability to lead, motivate, and develop a small team in a fast-paced environment.
- Recognise areas of staff development within your team – work with Support Team Manager to arrange and put into place relevant training plans.
- Assist Support Team Manager in onboarding & training of new team members.
- Assist Support Team Manager in any internal projects requested.
Responsibilities
- Conduct weekly meetings with the team and Adviser(s) where workloads are prioritised.
- Build strong relationships with Adviser(s) to understand business needs.
- Prioritise and allocate tasks appropriately based on priority and team capacity.
- Monitor and manage workflow to ensure SLAs are met.
- Conduct regular one-to-one meetings with your team and liase with Support Team Manager to assist in performance reviews and development planning.
- Oversee to ensure accurate use of back-office systems and adherence to processes by your team.
- Act as key point of contact for clients; organising and dealing with correspondence via telephone, email or letter.
- Responsible for the timely creation and ongoing update of accurate client records, both personal/fact find details and investment details within IO.
- Oversee to ensure that all client interactions within your team are recorded using standalone tasks and purpose-built workflows within IO (e.g. new client, client review, new instruction, client on & off-boarding), providing an audit trail of activities.
- Work with your team to ensure that client review reports are generated from the relevant system and that all information is validated and checked.
- Work with your team to ensure that basic client reports are generated from IO using the agreed templates and that all information is validated and checked.
- Act as main point of contact with providers in the transfer, set up and administration of investments and policies on behalf of clients. This includes dealing with letters of authority, processing new applications, following up with ongoing transactions, resolving issues etc. ensuring that the client is kept informed on progress and is notified when transactions are completed.
- Oversee to ensure that client fees and commission (initial, ongoing and ad-hoc) are set up and maintained correctly in IO to support accurate monthly payments to Pembroke and provide an accurate view for client reporting.
- Oversee to ensure that all client communications and documentation are scanned and filed in IO in a timely manner to ensure compliance with PFS file checking processes.
- Oversee to ensure that the team are maintaining up to date client records to ensure compliance with Anti-Money Laundering / Know Your Client, GDPR and other statutory/regulatory rules. Ensure details and supporting documents are recorded in IO.
- Able to take on the more complex work for the team and Adviser(s).
- Provide support for Support Team Manager in defining and carrying out organisational projects/initiatives.
- General office duties including answering phones, photocopying, filing and scanning as required.
- Assist Support Team Manager in arranging cover for Receptionist or other support team members when out of office (breaks, annual leave, sick leave etc.)
Other Obligations
- Complete Financial Services industry mandatory/regulatory training to given deadlines.
- Adhere to company policies.
- Ensure that the team maintain a clear desk and ensure all documentation is locked away securely out of hours.
- Ensure that all confidential paperwork for your team is either scanned to the relevant file and disposed of in the confidential data bins or shredded.