CompaniesSep 5 2013

‘Advisers’ voices need to be heard more clearly’

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David Cockling, financial planner for Isle of Wight-based Aspen Wealth Management, and John Doyle, financial planner for Kent-based Blue Ocean Investment Company, said the lack of a strong, authoritative voice during the run-up to RDR had not only caused harm to advisers but also to the public.

Mr Doyle, a member of the Personal Finance Society, said: “When RDR came in, we saw how the government changed the goalposts regarding the provision of advice but there was no joined-up thinking.

“The government should have set up free training to help advisers meet its regulatory standards, reducing the cost of exams for IFAs, and provided assistance for the public in the form of tax credits, for example, so that people and businesses could afford the higher standards of advice post-RDR.

“If the industry had a good trade body, advisers’ voices would have been heard more clearly and RDR could have improved standards, helped more advisers become qualified and enabled more people to afford advice. But you need a proper representative trade body to lobby Whitehall for this and we do not have one.”

Mr Cockling, also a member of the PFS was asked whether he was considering joining one of the various trade organisations, such as the Association of Professional Financial Advisers, Cherry or the IFA Centre. He said: “The fact there is a list already shows the problem. The advisory industry is fragmented.

“We have a range of disparate organisations that do not have enough clout. Consider the way the Law Society works; all solicitors have to be members of this and it operates with a powerful lobbying voice.”

Mr Cockling claimed the current trade bodies did not have any influence on legislation for advisers and clients.

Trade body response

Gill Cardy, founder of the IFA centre, agreed it was important for common agreement to lobby on certain issues, such as trail commission.

She said: “For the arguments of advisers to be at all effective it is important to acknowledge the concerns of the regulator and to present the arguments in terms of the consumer protection agenda, which the regulator has demonstrated itself to be poor at pursuing.

“For example, it may be true that moving the goalposts now may be unfair to advisers who set up businesses on trail commission, but this argument will not win hearts and minds.

“The common point we should be lobbying on is that clients may end up paying twice; once through product charges and again through adviser charging.”

Apfa response

Chris Hannant, director general of the Association of Professional Financial Advisers, said: “I am all for a unified trade body. Apfa attempts to do this and already represents nearly 70 per cent of advisers in terms of numbers. We would encourage people to join, as the more of us that are together, the more resource we will have to influence the policymakers.”