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Industry, not FSA, must define 'simplified advice' says CII's Scott
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by Daniel Grote on Dec 07, 2009 at 09:22
Simplified advice is the solution to many problems raised by the RDR - but don't expect the regulator to tell you what it is, says Chartered Insurance Institute chief executive Sandy Scott.
Speaking at The Future of Distribution in Financial Services conference in London, Scott said delivering cost-effective advice to lower income families and maintaining the adviser population was possible within the simplified advice regime.
But it is the industry's job to come up with practical responses to the Financial Services Authority's challenges, he argued.
Fresh from interviewing the FSA's head of investment policy Peter Smith, Scott also said he expected 'little or no' additional work for advisers taking exams now to remain compliant post-2012 - but that the FSA needs to nail down what the future of qualifications looks like.
2 comments so far. Why not have your say?
Julian Stevens
Dec 07, 2009 at 16:39
TCF all over again ~ don't expect us to tell you what we mean by it, just expect us to hammer you if you don't do it according to whatever definition we may have arrived at on the day we come to give you and your business a thorough going over. And this is the regulation for which the industry is bled a fortune every year? If it wsn't so tragic, it'd be laughable.
report thisDuncan Carter
Dec 07, 2009 at 16:43
To some extent I can see where the CII is coming from but the FSA is creating the 'problems' and will undoubtedly sit in judgement down the line if solutions or 'outcomes' are not to its liking.
Accordingly I don't really think the FSA can avoid being a part of the solution. If it wishes to have any credibility it needs to have a dialogue with firms. It can't just issue edicts from on high and then sit back whilst firms spend time and effort resolving problems that are unnecessary and not of their making.
Otherwise It is more likely that advisers and providers will just avoid the mass unaffluent but needy of advice area altogether.
We don't really need another Stakeholder debacle.
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