A record attendance for the Northern Home Counties met in Milton Keynes in January to welcome David Patterson of db X-trackers to talk about ETFs.

This highly technical session was well supported with information and gave a real good grounding in the reasons why the FSA have been focussing on this area and why most of that focus brings good news for ETFs and not bad. Mr Patterson also covered specific areas where due diligence was required.

The second speaker, IFP chief executive Nick Cann, professed himself to be happy not to be advising clients on ETFs but was able to discuss what a Financial Planning firm might look like if it was set up by John Lewis, the department store and Waitrose retailer.

Mr Cann highlighted research done by the IFP and others to establish the likely client base for advisers to service and how they might go about this. He also outlined what the business structure of a successful firm might look like and how this could change into the future.

Chairman Chris Bowmer CFP^CM said the meeting was a great start to the year and that delegate feedback had been hugely positive.