TEAM mandates CISI Level 4 as minimum standard for every NEBA adviser

Financial services group TEAM has stipulated that every private client adviser in its international advice business NEBA will be to achieve CISI Level 4 by the end of 2026, with the support of the firm.

With the aim of setting a clear benchmark for international financial advice, TEAM will support all advisers with their qualifications, including new recruits and those who have joined the business through acquisition.

The firm said the move addresses a longstanding weakness in international advice, where qualification requirements can vary sharply between jurisdictions, adding that a record 300 million people now live outside their country of birth, boosting the number of clients relying on advice that has to work across several countries at once.

John Beverley, head of international at TEAM, said: “A client’s financial life does not sit neatly inside one jurisdiction. People earn in one country, hold pensions in another, invest through international platforms and plan succession across borders. When the advice behind that does not keep pace, clients are exposed, and too often they only discover it years later.

“As an AIM-listed group, TEAM has chosen to lead on this. We are setting a measurable minimum, CISI Level 4, for every adviser. Where someone needs support to get there, including advisers who have joined us through acquisition, we will help them develop rather than show them the door. That is good governance, and it is the right thing to do for our clients and for our people.”

Advisers should benefit from NEBA Private Clients becoming a stronger professional home – one that invests in qualifications, career development and the infrastructure needed to deliver better advice – while clients will receive measurable assurance that every NEBA adviser is working to the same recognised minimum standard, regardless of market, the firm said.

“Good advisers should not have to develop alone,” Beverley added. “They should be supported by a business that takes their career as seriously as it takes client outcomes.

“Clients, in turn, should be able to see that the firm behind their adviser is serious about competence, governance and professional development.”

The qualification requirement will sit alongside NEBA’s wider framework for supervision, continuing professional development, compliance and adviser support. NEBA Private Clients will report progress annually to TEAM, beginning on 31 December 2026.