Blacktower Financial Management  Anmeldelser 69

After I posted my earlier one star review of Blacktower Financial Management on Trustpilot, I received a formal Cease and Desist notification from Blacktower, along with a threat of legal action if my post remained online. I responded by saying that I was sure that my review was true and genuine, with evidence to back it up, but if they considered any part of it to be incorrect, then to be specific about what they believed to be wrong and I would consider making changes. I never heard from them again. I am extremely disappointed that Blacktower chose to behave this way.

So many other issues have arisen over the past few months. I am still waiting for information from various sources, which is proving very difficult to obtain, as my UK pension has been set up over many countries and regulatory jurisdictions, that makes this extremely hard. However, one serious issue recently came to light that deserves to be highlighted immediately.

My former financial adviser, Mr Michael Hains of Blacktower Netherlands, is extremely active in the Dutch expat forums on Facebook, endlessly looking to sign up new customers. Mr Hains works mainly in the British Community in the Netherlands closed group to generate new business. However, there is one user in this group, by the name of Damian Zwart, who just keeps on making posts in praise of Michael Hains. Damian claims to be a customer of Michael Hains. In fact he’s apparently been one of Michael’s customers for 5 years now and according to Damian, Michael has made him “a ton of money”!

It’s nice when a customer appreciates your efforts and gives you a good review. Normally one review is enough, but Damian speaks up in support of Michael so many times and surprisingly even chips in with a bit of financial advice every now and again! Michael Hains also engages in direct conversations with Damian, as does Michael’s wife. Damian also makes charitable donations to the group.

Even with the excessive promotion and endorsements of Michael Hains, things almost look normal, until that is you take a closer look at Damian Zwart’s profile.

The unique Facebook username (essentially your Facebook account number) assigned to Damian Zwart’s profile is “MICHAEL.HAINS.39”. This proves beyond any reasonable doubt, that Damian Zwart’s profile was actually created on Michael Hains own phone or computer and Facebook simply assigned a default username to Damian Zwart’s profile based on the existing primary user on that browser / device.

In one particular post in the British Community in the Netherlands closed group on Facebook “Damian” states:

“Like most people in the group, I use Michael, he has been great for what I needed. He was the cheapest by far. He did not even charge me a fee at the beginning and I was asking him questions for 6 months constantly. Just a nice guy generally.”

This is all lies. Damian Zwart is a fabricated online persona, used to misrepresent independent endorsement and boost Michael’s own credibility. It’s dishonest and unprofessional. This kind of behaviour falls well below the standard expected of a licensed financial adviser.

On Saturday 4th April 2026, details of the fake Damian Zwart profile and it’s creator and ultimate user were released to the expat community in the Netherlands. The Damian Zwart profile was created nine years ago in 2017, but within just two hours of the news being released that it was a fake profile controlled by Michael Hains, the profile was unsurprisingly deleted and Damian Zwart, along with all of his praise and support of Michael Hains, was consigned to the history books!

I would like to think that nobody else from Blacktower is aware of this shocking behaviour, but these days, nothing would surprise me.

My final statement from my former UK pension manager showed my pension to be worth approximately 155k Pounds. After 17 years of management by Blacktower / WorldWideBroker Netherlands, my final statement from them in June of 2025 valued my pension at just 122k Pounds. I often wonder how much it might be worth now if I’d simply left it where it was? There was no compelling reason to move it, other than to take advantage of the world-class service they were promising.

Evidence of the creation and use of the Damian Zwart profile has been captured and will be made available to Trustpilot or any relevant authority upon request. The internet never forgets!

I am writing to express my extreme dissatisfaction and anger regarding the financial advice I received from Blacktower, which led me to invest a substantial sum in a 5-year product offering 5% per annum in USD.

The sole focus of the recommendation was the attractive-sounding 5% PA return in USD, with zero consideration given to currency risk or market timing. No meaningful discussion took place about the EUR/USD exchange rate, its historical levels, or the potential impact of fluctuations on my returns when converted back to euros (my base currency). This was a glaring omission, especially for an investment involving USD exposure for a European-based client.

The investment was initiated at what was effectively the lowest EUR/USD rate in approximately 20 years – right at a major long-term support level on the charts (around the multi-year lows seen in recent history). Historical data clearly shows this was one of the worst possible times to buy USD against the euro in two decades. Buying at or near a 20-year low means I am now heavily exposed to currency depreciation risk: any strengthening of the euro (which has already occurred since inception) directly erodes the value of my principal and returns when measured in euros.

To illustrate the poor timing:
The investment started near the bottom of a long-term range.
Recent rates (e.g., around 1.19 in September 2025) have already moved against me, and the current rate hovers around 1.173–1.175, with further upside risk to 1.20 or higher leaving me significantly "offside."
This is not hindsight – basic technical and fundamental analysis of EUR/USD charts would have highlighted the extreme vulnerability at the entry point.

My point is that the advice was incomplete, overly simplistic, and failed to address the most critical risk in this setup: currency exposure and timing. Promising 5% PA while ignoring that the final euro value could be decimated by FX movements is irresponsible.

Highly recommend Patrick Macdonald of Blacktower.
The administrational procedures transferring my SIPP from Scottish Widows to Novia Global International SIPP were complex owing to Scottish Widows antiquated administrational processes. In comparison Patrick guided me through the transfer process. Blacktower online administrational procedure was excellent. Patrick was there at all times to answer any questions. The advice and guidance from Patrick for the selection of the new International SIPP and relevant fund selection was excellent, as this was new territory for me. Novia Global International SIPP online documentation and pension transfer process again execellent. After pension transfer experience with Patrick and Novia Global excellent. Highly recommend.

We highly recommend Rosemary Sheppard and Black Tower Financial Management. We approached Rosemary for advice on investments and pensions as U.K. expats residing in France, she was very knowledgeable and responsive, and happy to take the time to talk through all the in and outs. There was no pressure to make hasty decisions and Rosemary made sure we were comfortable with the proposals before finalising anything.

Paul Shorten of Black Tower has really gone above and beyond the call of duty in helping us in the complex world of setting up a trust for our child. He is very knowledgeable and endlessly patient and answered all our questions very quickly. Highly recommended!

It was a great experience. However if you are going to the circus at half 2 do not get the pick n mix deal as you only get to do the circus as everywhere closed at 5 unless it is certain days. After we this occurred the kind Finn of Blackpool tower was very helpful and give us two more site seeing venues to use Friday
Overall it was still a fantastic experience thank you Finn

I live in Australia and was contacted by Blacktower to ‘assist me’ with my review of my pensions in both the UK and Australia.
I had a very open discussion with them and provided personal information on the promise they would assist me with advice as to how best protect myself from unnecessary taxes and fees.
The call was finished with me to send them information to carry out a review of my position, then silence and no response to my follow up emails.
Once they extracted personal information from me, if my position is not of interest to them as business, at least have the common decency to inform me that I don’t meet the requirements!!
Clearly out for no one but themselves which I know is how a business works, but have some morals you parasites!

Rosemary Shepherd was what made my experience first class, as always. She is always very very helpful, knowledgeable and efficient. It is always an absolute pleasure to deal with her. I have absolute confidence in her. Thanks again Rosemary, looking forward to our next meeting.

Very refreshing to speak to such a knowledgeable person covering a broad range of financial topics and offering valued and impartial advice. Rosemary is very helpful and I would highly recommend contacting her to see if she can help.

I was persuaded to invest in the Utmost Vision policy, accepting the recommendation of BlackTower. Taking the advice given at face value and without reading the small print I signed up to the policy, on the basis that it is the job of a financial advisor to give advice. The main selling point was the plan's "flexibility", however this "flexibility" does not extend to any changes in circumstances. The fee remain the same whether the circumstances. So, on an original investment of EUR68,500 the last 3 years' fees alone have come to a total of EUR24,955.

Clearly this is a cash cow for both Utmost and Blacktower and has no benefit to the customer.

we looked for many investment and wealth management providers and are happy to say Blacktower did everything that others did not. we wish we joined them sooner

Constant cold calling and bombardment of calls, rude advisors refused to remove my details from their contact list

Great service that went above and beyond, from Rachael. This was for a mortgage, but I'm going back to them in a couple of weeks to sort life insurance.
Thanks to Rachael and Blacktower.

I am really grateful to Rachael Tyrrell at Black Tower Financial Management for providing sound, unbiased advice. Our mortgage was coming to an end and we couldn’t pay off the balance. I was really worried about losing the house but they provided reassurance and advised on lots of different options that were available to us. Thoroughly recommend their services.

Zero advice, negative returns. This company offers no financial advice, after one of their "financial advisers" has sold you one of the under-performing products. Avoid.

Relationship goes back 20 years. Cannot speak more highly of John Westwood and his multi talented team. Here’s to the next 20 !

My wife and I have recently moved our individual UK pensions overseas. We both needed independent, honest and impartial advice as this was a huge step for both of us. We dealt with Mark Hollingsworth and he provided all of the above. Pension transfers are immensely complicated nowadays but Mark made us feel completely at ease with the whole process and ensured everything was completed in a timely and efficient manor always keeping us up to date with the progress of the process.
He also offered very sound and sensible advice on how to invest the monies.
I am more than happy to give Mark and Blacktower a 5 star rating.

From the first time I made contact with Blacktower FM they have been helpful, professional and made time to understand my position. The advise they gave me was first class, they take time to explain and guide you through everything step of the way always ensuring you understand what’s happening throughout the whole process with an open and transparent attitude.
I couldn’t be happier as they are always on hand if you have further issues or questions.
You are made to feel as if you are part of the Blacktower family and I have a new friend in my life thank you Mark.

Very good service and quick to follow through.

Friendly but professional service .

Always happy to help you out .