Aventur partners with GayWealth on LGBT+ advice gap

Aventur has partnered with GayWealth to offer financial advice for LGBT+ clients through Aventur's regulated advice infrastructure.

GayWealth will connect clients with advisers focused on issues affecting LGBT+ households, including mortgages, protection, retirement planning and later-life finances. The service will also cover areas where mainstream advice has often been limited, such as joint applications for same-sex couples, non-traditional family structures and financial planning around transition.

The move comes as financial firms face wider scrutiny over how well they serve groups whose circumstances do not fit standard underwriting and planning models. Aventur and GayWealth aim to address a gap in advice for a community that much of the sector has underserved.

Trans clients can face particular difficulties with lenders and financial providers. Legal name changes can fragment credit files and create inconsistencies across records, complicating mortgage applications and access to other financial products.

An economic survey by the Centre for LGBTQ Economic Advancement & Research found that 27% of transgender respondents reported discrimination in banking or financial services. The announcement also pointed to lower rates of life insurance and retirement savings among LGBT+ people in the UK.

GayWealth was founded by Zoë Chowney, a qualified accountant and entrepreneur, who said her own experience exposed the lack of suitable advice. When she changed her legal name during transition, she had to reconcile financial records across previous and current identities while applying for a mortgage.

That experience shaped the business and its focus on specialist advice. Chowney is set to lead the offering under the new arrangement.

Her background includes senior roles at Allianz and AIG, as well as serving as European Managing Director at Kenshoo. She is also a Freeman of the City of London, founder and co-chair of Pride in Business, and the first openly transgender woman co-chair of the Gay Women's Network.

Aventur, which describes itself as a financial advice and financial wellbeing business, is providing the regulatory framework for the service. The partnership gives GayWealth a route to market through an established advice structure while allowing it to focus on client acquisition and specialist support.

Advice gap

The UK financial advice market has long been criticised for leaving some consumers outside its main focus, particularly when needs are complex but assets may not be large enough to attract bespoke support. LGBT+ consumers can face added challenges because legal, family and identity issues may affect documentation, beneficiary arrangements and long-term planning.

For same-sex couples, joint applications and protection needs may require advisers to understand different household structures and family arrangements. Later-life planning can also involve inheritance, care and financial security issues that standard advice processes do not always handle well.

Chowney said the new venture was designed to meet those needs with advisers who understand clients' lived experience. "I started GayWealth because I couldn't find the type of financial advice I needed when I needed it most," said Zoë Chowney, Founder, GayWealth.

"Our community deserves advisers who understand their lives and can provide genuine, regulated guidance without judgement. Partnering with Aventur means we can reach far more people and make a tangible difference," Chowney said.

Aventur's leadership described the partnership as part of a broader effort to widen access to advice. The arrangement aligns with its approach to building services for groups that have not been well served by traditional providers.

"The LGBT+ community has been consistently underserved by financial services. We are proud to partner with Zoë to help change that; it is exactly the purposeful, values-led work that Aventur stands for. Together, we aim to set a new standard for inclusive financial advice in the UK, and we look forward to the difference this partnership will make for clients who have too often had nowhere to turn," said Stacey Body, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder, Aventur.