It’s time to bring back the old guard

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As we now know, one of the unintended consequences of the RDR was to alienate the mass market from the advice process.

Being in the industry for almost 50 years, it is very sad to say that ever since the higher-level qualifications were proposed and the rules made in January 2011, after many months of discussion and consultations with all the interested parties, the now defunct FSA was not persuaded that grandfathering was an acceptable solution, or that long experience would be an acceptable substitute for getting the qualifications.

Given where we are now, one of the solutions to alleviate the shortage of advisers would be to allow the previous PFS-qualified IFAs with a distinguished record and with long experience to return into financial services distribution to provide the local population with simplified advice – similar to the functions performed by the local chemist.

My fear however, is that allowing the banks and the assurers’ direct salesforces to close the advice gap would be unwise, keeping in mind the systematic mis-selling of investments and payment protection insurance, mainly by the banks.

Andreas Petrou

Director,

HIFS Account No 2