The Financial Services Authority (FSA) remains committed to providing a solution to simplified advice ahead of the implementation of the retail distribution review (RDR), an expert has claimed.
Speaking at the Tenet conference last week, Ernst & Young director Malcolm Kerr assured listeners the city regulator had not changed its view on simplified advice, MoneyMarketing.co.uk reported.
However, he suggested the watchdog was finding it challenging to come up with a practical solution to simplified advice, which has to comply with rules regarding adviser-charging post-RDR.
Mr Kerr said: “The FSA is struggling to get the simplified advice concept into the marketplace but, having spoken to the regulator, it is still determined to try and make it work,” the news provider quoted.
In its guidance consultation on simplified advice in September, the FSA reminded IFA firms that advisers offering personal recommendations would have to carry a QCF level four qualification.
Last month, figures sourced from the FSA by the FT Adviser showed the number of advisory firms in operation by the end of 2011 stood at 5,482, compared to 5,584 in September last year.
Posted by Tony Miller