About us
We’ve been around since 2008 providing CII exam candidates with immediately accessible, quality learning resources. We have over 60,000 financial services professionals using our exam resources and those numbers keep on growing!
Why use Brand Financial Training?
We offer a varied range of learning resources covering exams from Award through Certificate, Diploma and Advanced Diploma levels. Our resource range ensures that there is something that suits every style of learning. These include mock papers, e-mocks, calculation workbooks, revision notes, analyses and more with both free taster and full paid-for versions available.
Our team of highly qualified and experienced individuals author all of our resources and keep them up-to-date. The team’s extensive experience includes working with the CII as authors and examiners.
We are also very active on our blog providing articles, information and comment on financial services exams, and the industry in general.
Our Mission
Through offering a diverse choice of high-quality, affordable CII exam resources complemented by exceptional customer care, our mission is to alleviate stress and boost confidence among our community members, whilst supporting their pursuit of exam excellence.
Our Vision
To be the most trusted provider of high-quality CII exam resources whilst fostering professional excellence and social responsibility.
This means that we are constantly seeking new ways to make sure we are leaving the planet a better place than we found it. Find out more here.
Meet the Brand Financial Training team…
Catriona Standingford
Founder/Chair
Catriona founded Brand Financial Training in 2008 and has grown the business into one of the most highly regarded providers of learning resources for financial services CII exam candidates. After graduating with a BSc (Hons) Information Systems from the University of Leeds, Catriona worked as an IT Consultant worldwide, later changing career and re-training as a financial adviser. Seeing a dire need for help with financial services exams, she later launched Brand Financial Training and has since become an expert in Learning & Development.
Catriona also has Board level experience from startup through to established business dealing with a variety of areas including e-commerce; digital marketing; GDPR; systems analysis; documenting, streamlining and automating business processes; risk management; strategic planning; governance and coaching.
Articles
Carly Cousins
Project and Operations Manager
Carly joined the Brand Financial Team in June 2026 as Project & Operations Manager. Her previous roles include Business Support Manager, Mortgage & Protection Product Consultant, and L&D Training Coordinator at financial advice and training businesses. Her career has centred around operational excellence, client experience, and training programme coordination and delivery. Supporting large scale adviser academies and learning programmes for organisations such as True Potential, Fairstone, Santander, Schroders, and Aviva.
Michelle Riley
Head of Digital
Michelle joined the Brand Financial Training team in 2012 and has been our Head of Digital since May 2021, developing and maintaining our various systems and websites. She gained her Bachelor of Technology from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2012 and ensures her skills are kept up-to-date through various online training courses.
Jennifer Dugdale
Managing Director
Jennifer joined the team in 2021 and is responsible for the day-to-day running of Brand Financial Training as well as having management responsibility for projects and strategy. Her previous roles include Head of Training and Head of Academy roles at financial advice and training businesses, providing training for advisers and financial advice apprentices, as well as roles within business development and compliance & training. She holds an MBA from the University of Leeds.
Ann Mora
Technical Support and Content Specialist
Ann has been part of the Brand Financial Training team since 2019, helping CII exam candidates to pass their exams. She is an essential part of our technical authoring team as well as working on the content and administrative side of the business. Ann has a strong numerical and financial services background with a BSc in Mathematics from Exeter University and working in financial services since 1995. During that time she has gained numerous CII qualifications including AF7 Pension Transfers, G10 Taxation and Trusts, G30 Business Financial Planning, G60 Pensions, R06 Financial Planning Practice, FP1, FP2, FP3, SV1 and CF9. Her roles have included IFA Consultant and Corporate Pensions Consultant for Friends Provident.
Technical Author Team
Our technical author team consists of six highly skilled and qualified financial services authors and trainers with backgrounds in training, compliance, financial advice and hold the titles of Chartered Financial Planner, Associates and Fellows of the PFS and CII. Our technical authoring team are highly qualified including the CII Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning, the CII Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning and equivalents, and a number of them also work for the CII as technical authors and examiners. Previous roles include household names such as Aviva, L&G and Friends Provident.
Customer and Business Support Team
The first point of contact for our customers is our Customer and Business Support Team, including Sharon, Lucy, and Patricia. The team has many years of experience in providing excellent customer service and support for our customers but are also responsible for a lot of behind the scenes action. Their knowledge of our customers and needs is unmatched, and they are always happy to help should you need anything. You can contact our Customer and Business Support team by emailing
Why are we different?
Most study materials tell you what you need to know.
We focus on helping you understand how to use it in the exam.
Our resources are built to bridge the gap between theory and application – with realistic questions, clear explanations, and guidance that reflects how exams are actually assessed. So instead of feeling stuck or unsure if you’re on the right track, you can see what’s expected and go into your exam feeling prepared.
The importance of customer service
Providing excellent customer service is extremely important to us. We do all we can to make your exam journey and your experience with us a happy one. If you have any queries or problems, do contact us and we will act as quickly as we can to resolve the situation.We have a fantastic enquiries team at and you can always leave us a message on 0345 680 1682 (Calls are charged at no more than 5p per minute from a BT line, charges from mobiles and other providers may vary and can be considerably more).
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We appreciate you!
Finally, we’re not just a faceless company trying to sell you stuff. The entire team here at Brand Financial Training genuinely care about you and your exam journey. We want to know how you’re doing and how we can help. Our aim is to make your exam journey with us a successful one.
We look forward to meeting you!
Need help with anything?
We like to support our customers on every step of their journey. Got a question, then get in touch and we’ll do our very best to help you!
- "Your analysis was extremely accurate when predicting the questions. It was presented in a clear and easy way to digest, providing valuable tips on how to answer questions efficiently and effectively. I finished with half hour to spare, which left plenty of time to check my answers which left me feeling quietly confident of a pass. I will be recommending your solutions to other colleagues."
Lee HanlonAccount Manager, Zurich UK Life, Swindon - "Brand Financial Training’s exam guides for R06 and AF5 are fantastic. Your contributors seem to get inside of the CII thinking zone and help to blot out a lot of the ‘irrelevant stuff’ that always crops up when one has been advising in the real world for many years! Comparing your guides with that of other well known support providers, I feel Brand Financial Training address the interpretation of some of the questions far better. I will definitely be recommending you as often as I can as your resources helped me get back into the enjoyment of study after a 13 year break and enabled me to reach APFS approx 8 months ahead of my target!"Gill MillenOval Financial Services, Bristol
- "Having been recommended to you guys via our link to Paradigm, I noticed that you did an analysis of the RO6 exam questions, which having done some reading prior to taking the exam, I thought I'd take the hit and check it out. Having worked my way through all of the RO's previously, I wanted to ensure that I had the best possible preparation to enable me to pass RO6 first time and get my Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning. All in all, I was impressed with how close the predicted questions were to those in the actual exam and this, in turn, meant that I was well prepared to back up my own personal knowledge for the exam, and your customer service support has also been very helpful. The resources were cost effective as well - a small price to pay to achieve the first milestone in my career qualifications! I would happily recommend Brand to others who are looking for materials to help them with their ongoing qualifications and I will definitely continue to make use of your resources as I work towards achieving Chartered status."Jake ClarksonParaplanner, Clarkson Wayman Ball Ltd, Market Harborough, Leicestershire
- I have had a very good results day, thank you - AF5 pass with distinction for me. The Brand case study analysis was really good and is definitely the main reason I passed the exam! The service was definitely worth the money. I will continue using your services and recommending you to colleagues.DanParaplanner
- We’ve been using the Brand Financial Training resources for our employees for over a year now and everyone at Y Tree Limited who has taken the exams using the Brand resources has passed first time.Eliana SydesHead of Financial Life Strategy
- I have recently passed my R06 with a distinction grade and have been using your material since R01 and will use going forward into the AF exams. Your case study analysis for the R06 was a great help and no doubt brought me a good few marks that wouldn’t have been obtained otherwise. Your mock exams for the other R0s and the CF6 exam were an amazing help and a valuable additional study tool. I recommend you to everyone I know sitting exams. Thank you very much, your efforts are very much worthwhile.Jared ThomasParaplanner, Seven Financial Group, Cardiff/Port Talbot
- I am pleased to confirm I passed R06! The extra study support I bought through Brand was excellent and would recommend to any future R06 exam takers. It really helped me understand the way in which the questions were going to be asked and the most efficient way to answer these. I was able to focus my revision in specific areas and not waste time studying for questions that might not pop up, the pointers from Brand on where to focus revision were spot on! It certainly gave me a lot more confidence going into the exam and I now have the result to prove it.Hanna PapworthParaplanner, Bury St Edmunds
- I have just passed CF6 with the help of your work books and exams. Thanks very much, the calculation book was superb and instrumental of me passing.Jonathan Camm
- “After a long lay off due to illness I decided to complete my Diploma. Brand Financial Training supported my studies. Their study material is excellent, so easy to read and presented in a logical format. The analysis for R06 was received promptly along with study tips and was invaluable. Test papers for R01 again were just the job. I really appreciated the personal attention received from Catriona, with suggestions for a variety of learning resources. All reasonably priced. Many thanks. I will be doing Level 6 with Brand Financial Training.”Philip DoddChester
- Couldn’t recommend Brand enough to anyone, the mock papers for the multiple choices are hands down the reason I passed each of the exams, I used your materials as my main study method for each of the exams over the past year!Andrew LloydParaplanner, People and Business IFA Limited, Liverpool
Lee Hanlon
Gill Millen
