Midland business coach Bernie De Souza has been chosen by the professional body for the UK financial planning community to run a series of workshops to help financial advisors win back public confidence.

Mr De Souza, from Leamington, who specialises in coaching the financial industry, will initially speak at 30 workshops for the London-based Personal Finance Society (PFS) in the first quarter of next year.

Keith Richards, chief executive officer of PFS - a not-for-profit organisation – said its 35,000 members were committed to the highest professional standards through undertaking qualifications and continuing personal development.

He said: “Our purpose is to secure and justify the confidence of the public and to lead the financial planning community towards higher levels of professionalism - ethical and behavioural standards, skill and technical knowledge.

“This will ultimately benefit both the consumer and the advisors.

“Bernie has spoken at our events across the UK before, helping our members to engage more with clients and the feedback has been great.

“We now want him to teach soft skills to our financial advisors, helping them to have a better relationship with clients and giving the public more confidence in them.”

Mr De Souza, an international speaker on coaching methods and author, is a main platform speaker at the Million Dollar Round Table in Hong Kong later this year, an annual event which attracts more than 5,000 people.

He said: “Many people think financial advisors have lost the ability to communicate.

“The society wants to rebuild public confidence in them and has asked me to coach them in client engagement skills.

“These are not hard selling techniques, just ways of forming better relationships with their clients.”