
deVere Group
deVere Group Overview
The aggregated data is based on reviews and questionnaires provided by PissedConsumer.com users.
deVere Group has 1.6 star rating based on 55 customer reviews. Consumers are mostly dissatisfied.
- Rating Distribution
Pros: Global scope, First contact was very professional, 10 years with out service.
Cons: High charges, Anything once they had my cash, Losing pension money to an inappropriate product.Recent recommendations regarding this business are as follows: "Do not deal with this company!", "Stay Away from Devere and similar products, how many times do you need to hear this again.", "Avoid them and report", "Stay clear", "Stay far away".
The aggregated data is based on reviews and questionnaires provided by PissedConsumer.com users.
deVere Group has 1.6 star rating based on 55 customer reviews. Consumers are mostly dissatisfied.
- Rating Distribution
Pros: Global scope, First contact was very professional, 10 years with out service.
Cons: High charges, Anything once they had my cash, Losing pension money to an inappropriate product.Recent recommendations regarding this business are as follows: "Do not deal with this company!", "Stay Away from Devere and similar products, how many times do you need to hear this again.", "Avoid them and report", "Stay clear", "Stay far away".
Most users ask deVere Group for the refund as a solution to their issues.
Consumers are not pleased with Reliability and Customer service. The price level of this organization is high according to consumer reviews.
Media from reviews















DeVere Group - Incompetence and arrogance at the highest level
I had my policy since 2008 and had put a small amount of money aside as a college fund for my son.
At first, while i was still in Dubai I still got a couple of visits of an account manager but as soon as i left Dubai, i did not hear from Devere Group via an account manager for about 5 to 6 years while I lived in Europe. This was not a problem as I had direct access via the FPI portal to follow up on my policy.
It was until i moved to the Philippines to retire that i started to receive calls from account manager(s). Every year there was a new one and every time they wanted me to change my investment mostly with higher costs. In addition to the requests for change, they kept asking for the same information over and over again e.g. risk profile, proof of identity, etc.
even though all that information had been given in the past. In addition the account managers -i.c. Edward Mckernan, started to try to sell me life insurance???
As I was getting older, I started to ask questions on how my wife/or son could retrieve my policy in case of my death. This was such a difficult question that the account manager could not answer, so he referred me to FPI directly.
Detailed questions about my policy, cost, conditions or copy of the original policy could not be provided. So the account manager submitted a complaint in MY name without my knowledge and approval to FPI because he could not get the answers I had asked him. Next account managers were exactly the same, asking for information that was already known, and referring to FPI directly to get some answers,... The level of incompetence is increasing with every new account manager.
I even offered to set up a CRM system for them to keep their customer information! haha The last one, a John Brody, refused to answer my questions for more details before making a call, and asked me to go somewhere else.
Which I did (getting my surrender value was very smooth :) thanks to the assistant Marichu Dalugdugan).
My advice go somewhere else - Their performance, if I compare it to other financial advisers/brokers, is the worst. Customer service is non-existent and rest assured every person you get on the phone is incompetent.
User's recommendation: Do not deal with this company!
Conned
Lured into 25 year deal back in 2005 for friends provident premier investment. was told they had taken over PIC who has a terrible reputation but they were nothing to do with it...Anyway paid 18x1000 pounds (minimum duration) then stopped.
The person who sold it to me moved to another company global eye (same *** and I agreed to transfer it. it then halved in value in an instant...finally withdrawn the money last year with 6 years to go. I got 4000 back after a 4000 penalty. Even though the funds increased 30% in the last 3 years the fees from friends provident made it go down (6% per year!!!).
I know lots of people who worked there after and found out their practices. half the chaps who worked there were fine and just thought it was high pressure but the products were ok. they were wrong!
Holborn assets etc all the same crap. steer clear and keep your money in the bank!
Devere Group Abu Dhabi- I have lost nearly AED 100,000 as a result of this companies negligence.
Cheques given to them to pass on to my Financial account were not paid. The company contacted them and told them that payments were missing from my account and gave 90 days for money to be paid, and Devere failed to inform me of this.
They informed me much later, and as a result my account was surrendered. The company my account was with have told me they contacted Devere several times about my account, and that Devere did not get back to them. Devere's negligence has caused us to lose nearly AED 100,000 of our hard earned money! I have complained, and all they can say is that there is nothing they can do about it.
They do not deny that they failed to do their job as brokers, yet they do not offer any compensation for our loss. This has been a very sad and painful experience!
- Unprofessional and negligent
Full refund
Not Happy at all
Devere Advisor are the less professional i have ever seen, the subscription i made through this agency end up being a total lost of money. i was promised a 10% growth each year, after 6 year the plan value is lower of 5000USD than my total investment.
when i look at closely, i found out that i never made any profit since i started investing in that plan. if i decide to surrender now, my expectation was to get my money back, at least what is remaining, instead, i will be loosing ~15000USD. those are the kind of things Devere Advisor never tell you when approaching you.
for the last 4 years, none of the adviser never called me to advise when they said they will always be calling me or following up on my investment and advise on options. They are very bad, never even accept being approached by them.
Full refund
Annulled Licence
The operation run by this firm in Cyprus was via their office in Belgium. That had its licenced annulled and thus the Cyprus operation closed.
Some of the unqualified staff moved to India, UAE and other unregulated jurisdictions. Others stayed in Cyprus moving into other salesman roles, using the sales tactics learnt during their week long Malta training course. Normal story, high front loaded commissions with the promise of great returns.
Fleece the consumer - who cares about them! After the operation was unlicensed they still brought over the next boat load of cowboys, one of whom was a used car salesman a month before.
Bad, Worse, Devere Shanghai
First the guys are trying to sell you the products where they can get the highest commission (25 years retirement plan) and not listen to the customer needs. Second, some fonds are frozen and I can't sell them since 5 months already - but I need the money now for finacning my house for the family.
Excuses here and excuses there, bla, bla, bla. No understanding for the mistakes they have done. Postpone the problem again and again - "next month, we will review in December". Bad service, bad communication, bad performance.
Never ever again Devere.......
Thank you for this great service and support it confirms finally what I was expecting in the beginning. Morten Guba, Shanghai
Full refund
Devere Group Investment Program Review
I have no experience of deVere group products and financial management, only the frustrating experience of being constantly bugged by sales people trying to sell me services despite telling them I'm not interested. They call my office and don't leave the company name, or say it's a private matter from my days of working with them in the U.K.
I have no idea if they can manage finances but my experience of being hounded by dodgy double glazing salesman practices means I will never engage with deVere España.
And if they don't reply to my last email to cease and desist from pestering my office colleagues in Madrid and Barcelona I will be complaining to the regulator here in Spain. A most untrustworthy company just from its sales tactics.
DeVere advisor recommended unsuitable product for personal benefit
In 2013, whilst working abroad, I was verbally (face-to-face) advised by a deVere advisor to invest in a specific product based on my specific requirements, specifically my ability to easily access the money at any time in the future with no/minimal charges.
After paying monthly into the recommended product for nearly 3 years I quit my job and moved back to the UK. It was at this point that it became apparent that the investment product I had invested in was a long term investment fund with a 25-year term, and accessing my funds prior to the end of the term in 2028 would result in massive losses, akin to over 75% of the total value of the fund.
As I am no longer in a position to keep up the monthly payments and in no way verbally agreed to such an inflexible product I can report that I was badly, if not fraudulently, advised by deVere.
According to the deVere group their specific group company that provided the advice is based in Switzerland, which, funnily enough, doesn't have a financial ombudsman like the UK that would take up such complaints. As such I have no other alternative but to employ a solicitor in Switzerland to pursue the matter through the courts.
Given my experience I would advise against using deVere for any financial advice. It's clear their only aim is to benefit personally at the detriment of their clients. Avoid.
- Transparency
- Bad advice
Full refund
Devere Group - Customer Care Review
So I was contacted by deVere sometime late 2013 and signed on to a policy/product. Somewhere along the line I lost my job and things went bad.
I needed cash so I decided to withdraw from the policy and cash out.
It's been over 10 months now of disappointment, and the account manager won't pick up my calls or return missed calls till I make the one and half hour drive to their office only to be promised a new date which is not kept. Now I feel a lot of regret having signed up with this institution here in Ghana.
Thanks
BAF
Check fees carefully, strong rotation financial advisors
Hi, I was approached by financial advisors of the Vere Group (in Switzerland) and they advised Generali Vision Plan. Although the 1st financial advisor seemed very engaged and I signed up to the Generali Vision Plan short thereafter he left the company and since there has been enormous rotation leading to practically no followup, delays in portfolio changes and limited advise, which led me to have to start doing it myself.
Recently I noticed that the fees of my Vision plan were significantly higher then was explained to me by the Veere Group.
In short it seems that it will become difficult to get a positive return on this plan. This is always a risk when investing, and I am sure De Vere Group has professional advisors as well, but I would suggest to be very vigilant on what you sign up to.
- Global scope
- Transparency
- Not clear about fees
- Consistency
DeVere is not independent
In 2009 we approached a firm named Siddals in UK to obtain advice on investments which were to provide an income for our retirement in Spain. We made it very clear that we were not prepared to invest in anything that put our capital at any serious risk. The questionnaire that we completed confirmed our investment profile as “cautious”, which was described as follows: “I am cautious and dislike risk. I prefer security of capital and predictable investments. I accept that this may result in low rates of return being earned on my portfolio. I also accept that interest returns from deposit based investments move up and down, and when compared with the rate of inflation may produce a poor real return.” The proportion of my portfolio allocated to this risk profile was 100%. Siddals was subsequently taken over by the deVere Group.
In November 2009 deVere produced a report that recommended four funds: (a) Aria Absolute Income Protected Fund, (b) EEA Life Settlements Fund (c) Iveagh Wealth Fund, and (c) New Earth Solutions. The Aria fund offered 80% protection of the invested capital.
In June 2010 on the advice of deVere Spain’s managing director we sold our Aria investment and invested heavily in United Asset Management Strategic Growth Fund, United Asset Management Sàrl of Port Valais, Switzerland, (UAM). At that time, and not disclosed by deVere, was the fact that the deVere Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Nigel Green, was the 100% owner of UAM. This is clearly confirmed by the registration records of the Confédération Suisse of which I have copies.
At the time we were given a factsheet that described the fund as being “United Asset Management – Strategic Growth Fund”. The factsheet also stated that “currently, Mr Kellermann acts as the fund manager to United Asset Management”. This refers to Mr Cobus Kellermann, who at that time was joint owner of the Mauritius based Belvedere Management Group with Mr David Cosgrove. In a newsletter in March 2015 deVere claimed to have had a role in exposing alleged investment fraud being carried out by Belvedere. What deVere failed to mention was that the perpetrators of that fraud, Messrs Kellermann and Cosgrove, held senior positions in United Asset Management at the time and were instrumental in the failure of the Strategic Growth Fund.
Mr Cosgrove one of has, due to his failure to comply with the codes of the FSA, subsequently been disqualified by the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius from “holding position as officer in any licensee of the FSC for a period of 5 years”.
According to its News Letters deVere boast that it is the worlds largest “independent financial adviser”. As such it has an obligation to remain completely independent. This obligation was breached by its selling of investments through a company wholly owned by its CEO who was benefiting from an additional layer of fees paid by us as the investors.
In February 2013 deVere informed us of problems with the UAM Strategic Growth Fund and advised us to sell our holdings. We completed a dealing form instructing the sale of those holdings and the purchase of holdings in an alternative fund. Unfortunately, the advice from deVere was given far too late and on 22 February 2013, only five months after Nigel Green disposed of his interests in United Asset Management, the Strategic Growth Fund was suspended. Since 27 October 2015, the fund has been in administration with no guarantee of any monies being recovered by investors.
In November 2015 we submitted a complaint to deVere’s customer relations department. We received a response, not from deVere Customer Relations, but from deVere Corporate Legal. In its various responses to our complaint deVere has endeavoured to distance itself from UAM by saying that the Strategic Growth Fund had nothing to do with UAM. Initially deVere stated that the association between the two on the factsheet was solely for marketing purposes. If that were the case then the fund was, at best, being mis-represented.
deVere then changed its stance by stating that “whilst the fund in question may be labelled as the UAM Strategic Growth Fund by SEB Life International in its statements ...” This is a blatant attempt to distort the truth as the insurer at the time of our investment in UAM Strategic Growth Fund in 2010 was Irish Life International Ltd and not SEB. We also have a series of emails directly from deVere at that time which clearly label the fund as being “United Asset Management Strategic Growth Fund”.
Despite admissions by deVere that there was a serious conflict of interest and that there were other faults on its part the deVere Corporate Legal department constantly looks for loopholes and refuses to consider our complaint on its merits.
Through its unethical approach in advising us to invest in funds that were not appropriate for our risk profile, and its poor management, deVere has caused us to suffer a substantial financial loss and years of stress. This situation warrants financial recompense from deVere to compensate us for loss and stress.
- Questionable advice given environment and customer profile
DeVere use positive comment 'flooding'
A word to those looking for information on scams & unethical dealings by DeVere.They engage in careful content management and 'flood' sites like these with their responses which then rank first....knowing that people are lazy researchers.
Google's own research shows 53% of people do not look beyond the first two responses and 89% do not look past page one. They are 'managing' (read: manipulating) this site to bury their sins. This company is the worst of the worst- incapable of change as the corporate culture is rotten top down to bottom. They do employ naïve & desperate sales people who may appear plausible.
Tough times are coming to Dubai (Oct 2016) - hopefully this parasitic company will finally fold in this time- and never be heard of again.
Caute!
Unhappy with DeVere
I first started with DeVere when I met one of their consultants in Cyprus,where they were based-all was well at first. They suddenly closed their local office and I was left with no information of who to contact.
4 weeks later I instigated contact with their London office and was able to resume a relationship with DeV . However as time passed I found that I was being passed from various consultants only discovering this when I initiated the contact, by 2015 I spoke to UK as I was not happy with the performance of my portfolio, to be told that at least it was better than the Cypriot Banks!!
4weeks after this I was still waiting for recommendations for my portfolio.
In addition to the above my consultant in Cyprus personally borrowed money from me, then went to their AD office in Middle East, she has not fully repaid this money and now refuses all contact. Suffice to say I have moved elsewhere, and would find it hard to recommend DeV to anyone
- See my comments
Let the company propose a solution
Bunch of crooks
Invested in UAM Strategic Growth fund on advice of your adviser. He told me that it was medium-low risk. I even note that your founder Mr Green played a big part in UAM and knew about this funds executives. Apparently you say you advised investors to leave the fund but I for one never got any such communication.
In fact from inception of policy until I noticed that the fund was suspeneded there was zero communication form your represenatives.
Upshot--Guess what I lost the lot when the fund collapsed. Since then I've sent several emails to your client department and the adviser - latest emails get no reply
Obviously once you've got your pound of flesh the investor doesn't matter anymore
Shame on you!
- Bad advice
- High charges
- Lies
Let the company propose a solution
deVere Group - DEVERE SPAIN SCAM! You lost my life savings and paid yourselves 15%!!!
I am disgusted to have recently learnt that the devere spain financial advisor who told me to close down my uk investments, which had performed well for over 10 years, and invest my money into UAM Strategic Growth fund earned 7.5% of my life savings before his terrible advice ruined my life!!!! And even worst, my new financial advisor told me he only gets 50% of what devere actually made out of me!
So not only does your crooked CEO own the fund, but your advisors are being paid through the roof to sell it?!
I was assured you were independent and i was being sold that fund because it was the best available. It seems a bit of a coincidence that the best fund available for me in the world is also owned by devere!!!
I tried to sell my investment for nearly 4 months before I was finally told the fund was suspended and i have seen less than 20% of my money returned in several years since. Surprise surprise, the crook who sold it to me, despite still working for devere in spain, is no longer my advisor so wont even answer the phone to me.
Thanks for ruining my life devere spain.
- Lies
- Devere spain
- 15percent hidden fees
Full refund
Devere group from an employees perception ( Dont fall for the trap)
not going to write an essay or anything straight to the point.
Everything the Devere group say is a fraud..
there is no real incentives.
its like working being imprisioned in a cell with no window
no travel cost or accomodations included.
they say Visa takes 3 months and it is done on purpose so you have to spend money from your own pocket..
PLease and i beg my following job hunters who seem to be interested in this so called opportunity of a life time to NOT GO AHEAD WITH IT.
if something sounds to good to be true then it probably isnt.
About
deVere Group, one of the world’s leading independent financial advisories, has a truly global presence. With offices in over 100 countries serving 80,000 clients worldwide, we endeavour to offer the very finest financial advice available. By teaming up with some of the world’s largest and most trusted investment firms, deVere Group offers clients honest and secure financial planning. We strive to protect and grow the wealth of all our clients worldwide, resulting in over 10 billion funds under administration. Our impeccable training programme ensures that our global consultants are fully qualified, making deVere Group one of the most regulated IFAs in the world.

deVere Group is ranked 650 out of 5019 in Financial Services category
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