Feels like advisers are regaining some of their ol’ swagger

The event saw free financial planning ‘surgeries’ held nationwide and must surely have won over many prospective clients to the value of fee-based advice.

What a good time then for advisers to find out that the FCA, for once showing clemency towards the advice profession, had taken on board the issues of funding the government’s ‘guidance guarantee’.

In an initial consultation on implementing the guarantee – essentially a pledge that all savers will have access to free financial guidance as they enter the newly liberalised at-retirement market – various levy models had been proposed.

These could have followed similar lines to other FCA levies, which would have seen financial advisers hit with anything from 20-30 per cent of the costs of the guidance guarantee, even though they would not have actually benefited from it.

But last Thursday (November 27) the FCA revealed that advisers will in fact pay just 12 per cent of the total levy, while the other fee blocks – such as life insurers and fund managers, which will benefit from the new market – will all pay 22 per cent.

Elsewhere last week, the FCA’s latest official figures showed the number of financial advisers operating in the UK had remained stable from 31,132 when the RDR was implemented to 31,153 today.

It strikes me, in this time of good news for the industry, that financial advice has regained some of its ‘swagger’ lately. The dark days preceding and following the implementation of the RDR, and its seismic ban on adviser commission, now seem more distant than ever.

For advisers, the main message must be to stress that this guaranteed at-retirement guidance can never replace ongoing quality advice.

The tone of the comments written beneath stories on the FTAdviser.com website seems to have brightened in recent months, too.

Understandably our readers are still frustrated by stories that suggest the FCA is not accountable, immune from any consequences for poor decision-making. But there are also more frequent comments welcoming positive developments and there’s a sense the industry is looking to the future.

However, it still strikes me that perhaps the industry isn’t quite doing enough to seize opportunities as a collective force. And, of course, the biggest opportunity now is the opening up of the retirement market.

Every asset manager you speak to has some plan to offer post-retirement products for investors looking to generate reliable income or to target existing products into that market.

For advisers, the main message must be to stress that this guaranteed at-retirement guidance can never replace ongoing quality advice.

So I fully support calls from Unbiased.co.uk for the FCA to introduce a requirement for guidance guarantee providers to highlight financial advice as an option for consumers’ next steps. It’s a no-brainer, isn’t it?

John Kenchington is editor of Investment Adviser