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!
- This was my 1st AF exam and thanks to your fantastic and spot on analysis I have passed it at first attempt! I have used your materials for all my ‘R0’ and couple of ‘J ‘ exams and I have to admit, that without it I would have not been able to achieve my diploma! Special mention to all the calculation workbooks and their perfect, easy to understand layout.
AniaParaplanner, Manchester - I passed R01-R06 with a 100% success rate, and a lot of that has been down to the Brand study materials that really simplify the learning process. The practice exams for R01-R05 were great, as all answers were explained at the back of each paper. For R06 the case study breakdowns were really simple to understand and covered a lot of what was in the actual exam. I’ve recommended Brand to all my colleagues that are studying for R0 exams, and I will certainly be using your services again when I move on to the AF exams.Michael HennessyParaplanner, Essex
- I have passed R06 using only the 'Brand' material for revision. A lot of similar questions came up. I learnt the model answers verbatim, which helped I think gain near maximum marks on similar questions.John KellyParaplanner, Chase de Vere, London
- The analysis and revision notes have been extremely helpful throughout my studies, from R03 to R06 (I didn’t discover Brand until R03! – Would have been extremely helpful for R01 & R02!) and could not have got through without them.Matthew M KenworthyInvestment Associate, North Yorkshire
- 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've used your resources for 3 exams so far and have always passed first time. I find these questions help to highlight those areas in which I am weak and which may need further study. I also find that questions in the exam are phrased in a way that I would not normally use, and that reading mock questions helps me to be aware of and alert to these. Your mock papers were invaluable in helping me to prepare for my exams."John BisattAdviser, Palmer Lane, Cardiff
- "Would highly recommend both the past analysis & analysis for the exam you are sitting. I felt these really helped me understand what the examiners were looking for and how to answer questions."Rebecca WelthyParaplanner, Essex
- "Your AF5 analysis would stand anyone in very good stead for passing the exam providing them with a refresher for the key points tested. Of course, you don't know exactly what will come up, or the tack/slant the question will take, but your analysis coupled with some general revision on the key areas highlighted will have helped anyone tremendously."Peter CainFile Review Manager, RBS Group
- 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
- “The calculation workbook ... is very comprehensive and includes calculations which are used as questions in the exam. The examples are clear and broken down into step by step stages... The resources provided by Brand Financial Training were key to my success. I shall certainly be trying them for future exams.”Suzanne WalkerAdviser, The Pension Drawdown Company, Cobham
Ania
Michael Hennessy
