Should I expect a financial adviser to keep my finances confidential?

notbrokeyet · 14 July 2019 at 9:35PM

My husband and I use the same financial adviser. Our finances are separate though, and we have separate accounts.
The adviser has sent us a joint statement of performance of our investments.
I did not give permission to share my financial affairs with my husband and I am not happy that he assumed this was ok.
There are no problems between me and my husband, but that is not the point, it’s the principle I object to.
My husband thinks I am being unreasonable and making a mountain out of a molehill.
Is there a code of ethics regarding confidentiality for financial advisers?

jaybeetoo · 14 July 2019 at 9:55PM

If you each have a separate agreement with the FA and have only ever had 1-2-1 meetings, then I believe the FA is out of order. He may be in breach of GDPR.

notbrokeyet · 14 July 2019 at 10:17PM

Thanks, that’s what I thought .
I would have expected to be asked to give my express permission.
It’s not the first time he has discussed my affairs with my husband. Am I being unreasonable?

bowlhead99 · 14 July 2019 at 10:43PM

notbrokeyet wrote: »

Thanks, that’s what I thought .
I would have expected to be asked to give my express permission.
It’s not the first time he has discussed my affairs with my husband. Am I being unreasonable?

So when he first discussed your affairs with your husband did you tell him he was out of order and that your husband should have no right to know anything about your financial affairs, and that everybody's relationships are different so he should forget any presumptions of traditional marriage arrangements being all about for richer/poorer, death us do part etc.?

If the first time he discussed your affairs with your husband you had said "Oy you - don't do that!", it would be quite unreasonable for him then to issue a combined performance summary.

If you have each engaged him entirely independently and he has only put two and two together about your common surname and address, guessing you must be related and then made his own leap of judgement that you would be engaging in joint financial planning, which he would be assisting with, that seems like a stretch on his part.

Perhaps there is some backstory you haven't explained to us about how you each came to be using his services while not engaging in common planning.

SonOf · 14 July 2019 at 11:00PM

The vast majority of consumers have joint financial needs and joint affairs and would discuss things jointly. That is the usual way things operate.

Some have separate finances but still communicate with each other in joint meetings/conversations.

It is very rare to have a couple who are as secretive as you are.

So, did you at any point give any indication to the adviser that you wanted your affairs to be treated as separate at all times?
were your meetings separate?

Is there a code of ethics regarding confidentiality for financial advisers?

There is. However, there has to be common sense from you too. You are very unusual and unless you have told the adviser of your extreme point of view, how would they know?

It is also very difficult, indeed virtually impossible, in a number of areas of financial planning not to consider your affairs jointly.

fjh · 15 July 2019 at 7:00AM

Individual bank accounts cannot be discussed 'jointly' so why any different here ?

DunnersO · 15 July 2019 at 7:07AM

It's not about being 'secretive.' It's a clear breach of GDPR.

My wife and I have a joint current account with Lloyds. We both get joint statements and can see everything online. But we both also have separate monthly saver accounts with Lloyds. And for those we can only see our own accounts when logged into our seperate online banking. That's just basic rules of administration.

If the OP and her husband have entirely separate accounts then the FA had no need or reason to combine these onto a joint statement.

18cc · 15 July 2019 at 7:16AM

For me the only thing that matters is that you as a customer are upset about the way the financial advisor has behaved

what I would do in your circumstances is to have a word of the adviser tell him that as far as you are concerned he has breached confidentiality, that in future you want things kept separate and that you are mentioning it to him just in case he makes the same mistake with other couples and get himself into serious trouble

He should definitely explicitly have asked whether you wanted things discussed as joints advice and got both your permission to do that

Linton · 15 July 2019 at 7:18AM

It is not easy to see how an IFA can do his job and give completely separate and independent recommendations to a husband and wife. For example, a wife having a good DB pension would affect how a husbands DC pension is invested. The IFA can hardly say that he recommends a particular portfolio to the husband but cannot tell him why.

Are all expenses completely separate and was the split discussed with the IFA? What about retirement plans? Is it pure coincidence if they happen to match? Did you consult the IFA separately and are you paying two sets of fees?

It seems to me that unless you clearly explained your domestic circumstances to the IFA the mistake is entirely reasonable.

ruperts · 15 July 2019 at 7:29AM

Don't know the rules but if you both engaged the FA independently and have only ever had independent discussions etc then it sounds completely unreasonable and surely against the rules to assume that you would be ok with a joint statement.

If you engaged the FA together and have attended meetings together and so on then that would blur the lines somewhat, but I would still expect there to be a requirement for both of you to provide formal consent for your information to be shared with each other.

If the FA has discussed your finances with your husband before, I wonder why you didn't make it very clear at that point that it was unacceptable though? Better yet engage a different FA.

Freecall · 15 July 2019 at 8:25AM

I would have thought that the test would be whether or not your relationship with the adviser was as a single entity or not.

You both attend meetings
You jointly pay one bill for the adviser's services

etc...

If so then you would be treated as a single financial entity for planning purposes and would therefore both be expected to have sight of the planning.

If, on the other hand, your relationship is one of two completely separate clients, separately paying for independent advice then that would be a different story.

As is often the case, the adviser's letter of appointment will point the way to which it is.

..

Should I expect a financial adviser to keep my finances confidential?

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