Mr Churchouse, also a Chartered Financial Planner, has run his own Financial Planning business, Chapters Financial Limited in Guildford, for over a decade.

He is author of several books on business and Financial Planning and is a regular media commentator. He has been involved in financial services for over 30 years.

He was chairman of the Surrey IFP branch twice prior to the merger with CISI. He joined the CISI Southern branch committee when the merger between the CISI and IFP took place in 2015 to support Financial Planning members during the transition. He became Vice President soon afterwards.

Mr Churchouse said: “I am delighted to be taking on the new role, following on from the excellent work of our retiring President Kate Nathoo. The Southern branch has moved from strength to strength during Kate’s tenure and I send my warm thanks to her for all her work.

“I am also thrilled to have Louis Coke from Charles Stanley in Guildford as my Vice President. Our mutual objective during the coming term is to build further on the programme and membership of the Southern branch. With two venue locations now in operation across Surrey (Guildford and Reigate/Redhill) our committee is looking to consolidate these positions before planning a third venue opening to ensure full access to CISI events across the region. I look forward to the challenge.”

Richard Bennett, CISI regional director said: “We are so very pleased to have Keith as the new CISI Southern branch president and we thank outgoing President Kate Nathoo for her excellent leadership.”

The CISI is a professional body for those working in or looking to establish a career in Financial Planning, wealth management and the capital markets.

It has a network of 23 branches throughout the UK and globally has 45,000 members in 104 countries.