Derek Baptist

Derek studied law at University before joining the RAF where he served for 10 years as a Commissioned Officer mainly on the Tornado strike and air defence forces.

On leaving the RAF he joined the Financial Services profession and held senior roles at Equitable Life before joining Scottish Widows where he was Head of the Financial Planning Unit and was the senior authorised adviser in the company responsible for the advice provided by Scottish Widows sales force. Derek became an Independent Financial Adviser in 1997 and was a Director of a substantial regional independent financial practice before joining AWD Thomsons as a Divisional Director of the national practice.

Derek founded his own Independent Financial Advisory practice in 2000 which evolved into Ad Valorem Wealth Management LLP which he co-founded with Ceri Robbins in 2010.

Derek was one of the first advisers in the UK to hold the full Advanced Financial Planning Certificate which he attained in 1994. Derek holds advanced level qualifications in Taxation and Trusts, Business Financial Planning, Personal Financial Planning and Pensions. Derek also holds the CII’s Discretionary Investment Manager qualification, is a full Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments and a Chartered Financial Planner.