The FCA is set to pay out more than £200,000 for two reports on the effects of the RDR, a freedom of information request has revealed.
The FCA said it paid £147,192 including VAT for the 107-page Europe Economics report, Retail Distribution Review: Post Implementation Review, published in December 2014.
The regulator received a VAT-inclusive £62,998.07 invoice for the 50-page Towers Watson report, Advice Gap Analysis: Report to FCA, also published in December. As of 30 January 2015 this was still to be paid.
The Europe Economics report found that the RDR had initiated a move towards professionalism among advisers, and that a ban on third-party commissions had reduced product bias.
The Towers Watson report found no advice gap resulting from an overall shortage of advisers, but noted anecdotal evidence of reduced capacity for advisers serving less affluent clients.
The 226-page Clifford Chance publication, Report of the Inquiry into the Events of 27/28 March 2014 Relating to the Press Briefing of Information in the FCA’s 2014/15 Business Plan, cost £3.15m excluding VAT, according to the FCA.
Adviser view
Matthew Walne, managing director of Leicestershire-based Santorini Financial Planning, said: “It is probably not money badly spent in the grand scheme of things. The biggest effect of the RDR is adviser firms having to run themselves more like larger businesses.”
