There have been a number of recent press articles about the role of STEP, a leading professional body, in the wealth management industry. Some of these articles have presented a highly distorted view of STEP and the activities of our members.

STEP members, known as TEPs, spend their professional lives helping families plan for their futures: from drafting a will or advising family businesses, to helping international families and protecting vulnerable family members who may have mental capacity issues or other forms of disability. With around 20,000 members worldwide, TEPs are the acknowledged specialists in giving advice to families in these areas.

Some TEPs focus on servicing very wealthy families, often with a range of international interests, who need expert advice to manage their affairs to ensure all tax and legal requirements are met in multiple countries. Most TEPs, however, are engaged in helping ordinary families deal with everyday problems. All are committed to the high technical and professional standards that STEP promotes and insists on from all its members.

Internationally, STEP has an important role to play in improving professionalism among all those working with families in areas such as inheritance planning and the care of vulnerable relatives. We are thus proud to be actively involved in helping raise standards in jurisdictions where there have to date been few, if any, equivalent professional bodies.

STEP also works constructively and transparently with a range of policymakers. As acknowledged global experts in their fields, STEP members have an important role to play in ensuring that policy development is informed by the practical experience of professionals working in the relevant area. STEP’s responses to official consultations are all publicly available on the STEP website (see www.step.org/consultation-tracker/1).

George Hodgson is Interim Chief Executive of STEP