The Financial Adviser School will launch a standalone soft-skills-only course for qualified advisers.

The school, a not for profit entity, founded by Sesame Bankhall Group in 2011 but acquired by Intrinsic, part of Old Mutual Wealth last year, plans to “expand its support for the financial planning sector”.

The soft-skills course is designed to supplement advisers’ existing skillset with training in non-technical competencies including customer service, behavioural finance, and building trust with clients.

The aim is to help advisers enhance their communication and business planning skills.

Earlier this year the first three cohorts of students graduated from the programme, with another due to graduate in the coming weeks.

The majority of students that study with FAS are sponsored through the programme by a financial planning firm, and they typically combine study with an existing role within the business. However, the school has also placed a number of students into vacancies where they have self-funded the programme themselves.

Darren Smith, head of the Financial Adviser School, said: “At FAS our purpose is to help to train the next generation of financial advisers, promoting growth in the financial planning sector and enabling more customers to access the benefits of face to face advice.

“We have already helped 18 financial advisers kick-off their career by obtaining their Diploma in Financial Advice, and we currently have another 73 students currently studying with us.

“Today’s announcement means we will be able to extend out support to even more firms and we look forward to welcoming cohorts onto the new programmes.”