The Financial Conduct Authority's proposals for targeted support are still quite green, but they are not necessarily just aimed at larger firms and providers, Rachel Vahey has said.
Speaking on the FT Adviser podcast, the head of public policy at AJ Bell said advisers too could deliver targeted support.
Targeted support was one of three proposals set out by the FCA for reforming the advice-guidance boundary to enable more people to get financial help.
It is a non-advised option proposed by the FCA, which allows authorised firms, such as product providers, to guide their customers towards certain products based on what other people "like them" would find suitable.
Many have said the proposal will favour larger firms and those vertically integrated, but Vahey said advisers too could benefit.
She said: "The proposals for targeted support could be a game changer, I think they could really help those people who can't or won't get financial advice to get them the help that they need to figure out the best way forward.
"The proposals for targeted support at the moment are really quite green... the FCA and the Treasury put forward some proposals on how this could work in practice but we really now need to work with them, and the industry needs to work with them, to figure out how they can work in practice.
"But it's not just applying to providers and platforms and pension schemes, hopefully we can see that targeted support could work for advisers as well."
She added: "And if that's the case it could work across the board, that any type of financial services firm would be able to help their customers and be able to give them these subtle... nudges... maybe leading to a selection of options or give them a nudge in the right direction.
"And I think that could help a whole load of firms, including adviser firms."
Vahey said broadly the proposals for widening access to financial advice, which include simplified advice, have been positive and have "moved on the debate".
FCA research shows only 8 per cent of people receive advice, and this figure "hasn't moved at all" from previous years' surveys, Vahey said. But for people with investable assets of more than £10,000 the proportion is 31 per cent, which is more positive but still too low, she added.
There are many people who need advice but currently do not get it, Vahey said. "The FCA and the Treasury, they want to close that help gap, and the holistic advice I think is by far the best solution, but it just is not the most appropriate solution for all of these people.
"So as an industry we need to look wider and we need to figure out how to close that help gap."