Company:Defaqto

Defaqto Group Limited

Type	Private
Industry	Financial Services
Predecessor	Independent Research Group
Founded	High Wycombe (1994 (1994))
Founder	Alastair Whitehead
Headquarters	Haddenham, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
Key people	John Milliken (CEO) Steve Lomax (COO) Glenn Porter (CCO) Paul Dagley Morris (CTO)
Products	Defaqto Ratings Defaqto Matrix Defaqto Engage
Services	Research Rating
Website	defaqto.com

Defaqto is the UK’s most trusted source of financial product and market intelligence, supporting the finance industry and consumers to make smarter financial decisions.

Ratings

Defaqto produces a range of independent ratings to give consumers and financial professionals the confidence to choose the right financial products for themselves and their clients, by providing an unbiased assessment of quality they can trust.

The ratings are independent, expert assessments based on facts, not opinion. A team of experts continually research and analyse every product to make sure the data is always relevant and up to date. The ratings are created as expert reviews of financial products (such as Michelin reviews) as opposed to consumer reviews (such as TripAdvisor).

Star Ratings

Defaqto Star Ratings give an independent assessment of quality, providing guidance that helps choose the right financial products with certainty.

Ratings are based on the quality and comprehensiveness of the features and benefits it offers. Defaqto rates individual propositions, not the provider of the product, across almost 100 categories – including banking, general insurance, life and protection, and pensions and investments.

Star Ratings give a product or proposition a rating of 1 to 5, depending on the quality and comprehensiveness of the features it offers. A 4 or 5 Star Rating indicates that a product or proposition represents one of the best quality offerings in the market. The ratings focus on the quality of the product as opposed to its price or the service that you may receive from contact with the provider.

Diamond Ratings

Defaqto Diamond Ratings help easily assess the quality and performance of any given fund, fund family or MPS range. They also include various risk attributes where applicable, and a range of other key fund attributes – including cost, scale, access and manager longevity.

Operations

Defaqto is based in Haddenham, Buckinghamshire.

History

Defaqto was founded as the Independent Research Group by Alastair Whitehead in 1994, initially focusing on life pensions products.

The business was acquired by Find Portal in 2006 in order to grow the presence in the consumer space.

The management of Defaqto completed a management buy-out supported by Synova Capital in March 2015 for £24m.

SimplyBiz Group plc acquired the entire share capital of Defaqto's holding company, Regulus Topco in March 2019 for £74m. The company and management continue to operate independently post acquisition.