Shepherds Mutual solutions.
In 1826 the Shepherds Friendly Society was formed and has operated since then as
a mutual business owned by its Members and has provided a range of savings, investments
and protection plans for adults and their children.
It is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and this can
be checked by visiting
http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/firmBasicDetails.do?sid=150336 This means
your dealings are covered by FSA regulation, The Financial Ombudsman Service and
the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Shepherds wholly own a subsidiary which provides guidance and advice on regulated
financial services products. In this website that business is known as Shepherds
Mutual Solutions.
Because it is a mutual firm it aims to put you the customer ahead of all else. It
does not pay dividends to shareholders and seeks to do its best for you rather than
external shareowners.
In providing services to you it also believes that, if possible, it should find
for you products and services from other businesses which are also mutual. For example
it would prefer to offer a mortgage from a mutual building society such as Nationwide,
rather than from a bank such as Northern Rock. Similarly it would also prefer to
arrange a pension plan with a mutual pension company rather than a shareholder owned
insurance company. It won’t be possible to do this in every case but it is the starting
point.
It is also committed to high levels of personal service and ethical behaviour and
will always do its best to treat you fairly. It has sought to do this for almost
200 years now and is committed to doing so forever.