FTAdviser.com

Advertising

A new European advisory committee is being launched by the Association of IFAs to offer advice to the European Commission on retail financial services to make sure the IFA voice is heard at the heart of European policy making.

The association said that with 70 per cent of all new regulatory proposals coming from Brussels it is essential that the professional advice community's interests are protected when new directives are discussed.

The committee will draw from Aifa’s membership and those already in the group include: Peter Mann, chief executive of Bankhall; Ian Thorneycroft, group managing director of SimplyBiz; Simon Conn, from Conti Financial Services; and Barry Kayes and Marcus Kenny from AWD Group.

The association added that places on the group are still available for those who want to make a significant difference to UK regulation.

Paul Beard, founder and chief executive of Cheshire-based financial advisers Alexander Beard Group and who also sits on the committee, said: "My company does a lot of business in Europe and I am an Aifa council member, which is why I am on this committee. We do business all over Europe and we have Markets in Financial Instruments Directive approval. On the continent we do business with British people and other nationalities in the employee benefits domain.”

Chris Cummings, director general of Aifa, said: "The new European advisory committee will be charged with helping develop Aifa policy on European regulatory matters. At the heart of our plans is a desire to see more consumers able to access professional financial advice across each European member state. Far too much European regulation risks helping large institutions sell financial products; it will be our aim to help European policy makers understand the role and value of financial advice.

"There has never been a more important time to be influencing the European agenda to protect UK firms. We saw the impact of the insurance mediation directive leading to general insurance regulation in the UK and, more recently with the confusion caused by the implementation of Mifid.

"The FSA has undertaken to copy out directives in future, meaning that they will simply be implemented into UK regulation. This means that while the work of the commission may seem distant what is decided in Brussels today is enacted in the UK tomorrow."