Big Interview: Stephen Kavanagh, AWD Chase de Vere

“We are on the cusp of greatness,” AWD Chase de Vere chief executive Stephen Kavanagh declares. “We were a bit dishevelled but we are close again to being a company everybody can be proud of.” Sixteen months have now passed since the FSA fined AWD £1.6m – later reduced to £1.1m – for exposing as many as 800 customers to unsuitable pensions advice. In that time, the business, formed via the amalgamation of Thomsons Financial Planning – rebranded to AWD Group in 2004 – and Chase de Vere, has undergone rapid change and today stands virtually unrecognisable from that described by the regu...