The big issue for advisers and their clients in the upcoming Scottish referendum centre on the potential impacts on savings, pensions, mortgages and insurance.
The opposed stances of Westminster and Holyrood on a simple but key aspect such as currency is a worrying sign for future negotiations on less headline-grabbing stuff such as financial regulation.
Clients are already concerned about their savings. One client has asked to move his pension from the Nucleus platform in Edinburgh to one “based in England” to ensure his pension will be paid in GBP. And clients with mortgages from English-based firms have voiced concerns about currency risk if Scotland adopts a separate currency.
In the white paper, many assertions are based on the premise of a currency union and it states that firms will “in the main” continue to provide services and products to people across Scotland and the UK.
Whether pension providers or mortgage lenders do or not will largely be dictated by cost. Two sets of regulators and two sets of tax regimes will make for headaches for advisers, and increased costs for consumers.
But where there is uncertainty, there is also opportunity so you might see some canny advisers ducking out for a spell for a cushy number at the new regulator.
Hugo Cannon is chartered financial planner at Heritable Financial Planning
