For professional adviser use only
The recent survey from Nucleus showing that the number of advisers spending more than 40 per cent of their time on admin has tripled in a year should worry us all. Clients do not pay fees for advisers to deal with paperwork, so working two days out of five for free is not good business. […]
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A raft of new regulations introduced in 2018, including MiFID II, GDPR and PROD have proved to be a challenge for the financial services industry, by increasing the burden of administration on firms, requiring more time to be spent on making sure these are implemented effectively. A recent survey1 of firms also indicates there are […]
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Advisers spend significantly more of their week in their business than on the golf course, writes Tim Sargisson, so when it comes to reading matter, it is important to be clear where their priorities lie Let me start by posing a question: how many people reading this piece have taken the time to read the 2019 […]
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Here we take a brief look at the current state of the financial services industry and how things could pan out over the next few years. It was recently reported1 that the average age of an adviser is currently mid-50’s and with nearly 7000 advisers expected to retire within the next five years, it is […]
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Speaking at the recent Money Marketing Interactive conference, FCA co-director of life insurance and financial advice supervision Debbie Gupta highlighted a major concern for the regulator, which is advisers’ failure to call out bad practice. As she pointed out: “We need a common understanding on both sides that we are in fact on the same […]
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Recent research by Fidelity Funds Network1 asked advisers to name and rank their top three current business challenges. The results show that four out of five (80%) advisers rank compliance and regulatory change in the top three challenges, with 50% of respondents to the survey considering it to be their number one challenge. Common complaints […]
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Last week saw the release of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) board minutes from their meeting on 28 February 2019. These minutes make interesting reading and indicate that the FCA board seemed to be amenable to the idea that backing the increase in the Financial Ombudsman compensation limit from £150,000 to £350,000, with effect from […]
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The depressingly familiar collapse of London & Capital Finance and similar episodes represent a failure of the whole financial services sector to promote itself sufficiently well to the consumer, argues Tim Sargisson The collapse of London & Capital Finance (LCF) has the potential to leave 11,500 investors out-of-pocket to the tune of £236m. The unravelling financial disaster […]
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A recent survey1 has recorded the average age of an adviser currently to be in their mid-50s and indicates that around 5%, a total of 1,650, have immediate plans to retire and another 16%, a total of 5,280 advisers, hope to retire in the next five years. Around 7% of these firms admitted to having no […]
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The Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) is part of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) drive to improve culture, governance and accountability within financial services firms. It aims to deter misconduct, by improving individual accountability and awareness of conduct issues across firms. Banks, as well as any investment firms also regulated by the Prudential Regulation […]
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Plans to increase the FOS award limit may have largely been greeted with dismay but, writes Tim Sargisson, the actions of the FCA are arguably a measured response to what it sees – and necessary for consumer protection The news from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), confirmed in PS19/8, increasing the award limit for the Financial […]
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its final rules on pension transfer advice in October 2018. The FCA’s position on contingent charging has already been clear since 2013. It stated that contingent charging is higher-risk than a time-cost charging model, due to the need to sell products to generate revenue, and it has now introduced […]
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