People of IFAC

IFAC was formed in 1996 when the FCA (called the PIA in those days!) moved all its staff to Canary Wharf. Four regional consultants formed IFA Compliance Ltd and Charlie Palmer bought the business in 2005 and renamed it IFAC.
As a firm IFAC provide compliance support to firms acting as their compliance manager and agent for regulation. IFAC compile and complete reg data reports, conduct audits, file checks and give ongoing regulatory advice. Most firms cannot afford a full time compliance director, but those who can also need reassurance and guidance from a firm like IFAC who interact daily with the regulator through text and chat.
FCA and most other counterparties demand the sort of external oversight and reassurance that IFAC supply. The stakes have never been higher, and the FCA licence is a valuable thing - look after it!

Our Team

We are an experienced team that seeks to provide the best service.

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Charlie Palmer
Chairman

theIFACteam@ifac.eu

Charlie started out with Allied Dunbar in Cheltenham in 1992, set up his own practice as an IFA in 1997, and set up the network Financial Ltd in 2003, that grew to £35m turnover before selling out to what is now Sanlam Financial. He bought IFAC in 2005 as the compliance consultancy to the network. The software we built since 2005 has always been developed in house, until spun out into separate company BAT in 2018.
Charlie is church warden of Whittington, has written several books, including Comply or Die, available on Amazon, and has a small farm in the Cotswolds.

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Kirsty Turner
Compliance Director

theIFACteam@ifac.eu

With over 25 years in the industry, Kirsty qualified in Compliance at Prudential in 1998 as a validator for Direct Sales Force advice. Later moving to Towry Law, then to Origen (formerly Wentworth Rose FS) becoming an adviser whilst specialising in annuities and retirement options. Prior to IFAC, Kirsty was at LEBC Group as their Director of Policy and Risk, responsible for compliance, training, recruitment, complaints, pension transfers and file checking, having previously lead an advice team with a £10m budget.

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Alastair Frame
Compliance Consultant

ccl@ifac.eu

Alastair is level 3 qualified mortgage broker with RO1, RO5 and CF6.

After leaving university Alastair started with Bank of Bermuda in 1998, working in Investments and Settlements and corporate actions. He was involved with a project to centralise the banks European back office activities to Dublin. After nearly 3 years he spent the next four years working for Global Asset Management in their alternative investments and corporate Secretarial area. Meeting his wife and moving to London in 2008, he took on a role with Bank of New York Mellon managing one of the UK’s largest Hedge Funds. His appointment was a signature moment for IFAC and Alastair has been with the firm since 2016.

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Colin Higgin-Botham
Compliance Manager

theIFACteam@ifac.eu

With over 33 years in the industry, Colin left the army and joined Sun Life of Canada and latterly moved through Lloyds TSB, Winterthur Life and Higham Group. Before joining IFAC, Colin spent 6 years at HJS Group as Compliance Manager most recently and has extensive experience dealing with FCA returns, providing training, complaints handling, audits, file checking and designing processes for firms to ensure they meet regulatory requirements

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Peter Roberts
Compliance Consultant

Peter has had a successful career to date firstly in estate agency and then as a mortgage broker. Originally from North Wales, He lived in London for over 20 years and moved to Oxfordshire in 2019 and works in IFAC as a compliance consultant.

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Izabela Siestrzykowska
Accountant

accounts@ifac.eu

Izabela Siestrzykowska joined Sanlam Financial in 2010 and has qualified in accounts, and she also has a BA graudate degree.

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Ken Baksh
Investment Director

Ken commenced employment as a trainee investment analyst in 1976 with Touche Remnant,a leading Investment Trust Group. He joined Legal and General Investment in 1987 as a senior portfolio manager and subsequently rose to the position of Head of European Equities, responsible for Life, Pension and Unit Trust portfolios worth over £1.2 billion. Since setting up his own investment consultancy in 2002, he has worked with a hedge fund, private clients, charities,stock brokers and IFA’s providing a variety of investment services. He is a Fellow of the UK Society of Investment Professionals. When not glued to Bloomberg or the Financial Times, he runs, cycles and plays the piano.

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Nick Hall
File Checker

Nick works as team leader of the file checkers, who all work remotely, are all qualified, and share work according to skillset.

Nick is level 4 qualified, has worked as IFA, in mortgage packaging firms, in broker sales, and across several national networks. MAQ, CF7, R01-5, CF7, J11, JO5 Dip PFS

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File Check
Team

We have a team of experienced file checkers, all qualified to minimum Level 4. All file checkers share work according to skillset and ensure

BAT Software

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Daniel Garabal
Head of IT

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George Romero
Software Architect

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Álvaro González
Cybersecurity Lead Manager

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Peter Hall
Software development and sales

Contact us

Any query? Don't hesitate and write us an e-mail or give us a phone call. We will be glad to assist you.

Colgate Farm, Ham Rd,
Charlton Kings,
Cheltenham GL54 4EZ,
United Kingdom
01242 80 70 10