History - Cresswell Cadenhead

  Cresswell Cadenhead & Co Limited

 Mike Cresswell and Peter Cadenhead formed Cresswell Cadenhead & Co. Ltd in February 2001. The primary objective was always to provide a high quality and bespoke independent advisory service to individual clients; as well as corporate clients, professional connections and trustees.

Both Peter and Mike each have over 20 years experience in the industry. The bulk of their early career was spent with large corporations. A desire to get more control of their own destiny and a yearning to provide a more personalised service for their clients led them to set up Cresswell Cadenhead & Co Ltd in 2001; despite the market conditions at that time and difficult regulatory conditions in force.

After an early decision that accountancy was not destined to be his vocation, Peter worked for a specialist independent advisory company, providing advice on planning for school fees. He then moved to the Halifax and spent a number of years with the building society-cum-bancassurer, starting as a client adviser, but with the move by Halifax towards providing tied advice, taking the step into management. This proved a valuable background for dealing with compliance and coping with the rigours of regulation.

Mike started his career at Friends’ Provident, originally to be trained as an underwriter, but deciding that life assurance, investment and pensions looked more interesting. This led to a few years as a broker consultant, looking after a panel of intermediaries for Friends’ and developing business from those accounts.  

It seemed logical to make the move forward and become an IFA, joining a few friends at Noble Lowndes, which eventually became Sedgwick Noble Lowndes. After 12 years and towards the end, a takeover by Barclays, Mike realised that the time had come to regain control of his life and this led to starting CC & Co Ltd. Mike has also broadened his experience over the last 15 years as a Senior Examiner for the Chartered Insurance Institute, specialising in question setting and editing.

We started CC & Co Ltd because we believe that financial advice is a long-term commitment and a close, ongoing relationship between adviser and client. This has been a key element of our business to date and something that we strive to maintain and strengthen in the future.

Although we did not specialise in a particular market sector, we were able to demonstrate technical expertise as well as experience. We are both well-qualified practitioners and both hold the Advanced Financial Planning Certificate. We both passed the benchmark “G60” examination, targeted at advisers providing specialist and technical advice on pension benefits.