The Investors Chronicle and Financial Times Wealth Management Awards are based on the votes of Investors Chronicle magazine and the Financial Times newspaper readers, a panel of judges, performance data and interviews with managers. The readers’ verdicts will be the deciding factor for most of the awards.

For the Best Cautious, Best Balanced, Best Income, Best Growth and Best Absolute Returns Wealth Awards, shortlists are drawn up by performance measurement specialist Asset Risk Consultants (ARC). The criteria is consistent, risk-adjusted performance over a range of time periods. Each shortlisted wealth manager is interviewed by ARC and selected judges.

For the other awards, readers of the Financial Times newspaper and Investors Chronicle magazine are invited to take part in a detailed questionnaire about their wealth managers. Readers are asked to assess their wealth managers on a range of criteria, such as performance, fees, range of investment options and tax solutions, trustworthiness and general competence. The scores are used by a panel of judges to select the winners in each award category.

The Best Charity Wealth Manager and Best Wealth Innovation awards are decided by the panel of judges, with the expert help of Charity Finance magazine for the charity award.

Entry requirements for investment performance-based awards: all wealth, investment, and fund managers will be automatically entered into the awards based on their performance figures as analysed by Asset Risk Consultants.