Not until later this year will the Money Advice Service begin to let consumers know how the changes brought about by the RDR will impact them.
A spokesman for the Money Advice Service said: “We are open to all ideas about how to communicate to customers and we are working now with both the FSA to agree our role in relation to communicating the changes to consumers.”
Despite there only being less than eight months to go until the Retail Distribution Review rules come into force, the Money Advice Service has confirmed to FTAdviser that the content and materials it offers to the public are only currently being reviewed.
However the industry-funded organisation stated web publications – including downloadable handbooks - will describe the post-RDR retail investment landscape, plus online tools will include hand-offs to regulated advice.
Comparison tables are also set to be revised, and potentially reformatted, to reflect an Adviser Charging world.
The service’s “Money Advisers” will be trained using e-learning modules to make sure they are able to explain the RDR changes and their implications.
Workplace presentations – such as Money Advice Service’s ‘making the most of your money’ and other information packs - will be updated in light of the changes.
The Money Advice Service revealed its plans to educate staff about the RDR after FTAdviser reported Panacea IFA, posing as a consumer, contacted MAS stating they were concerned that from next year they would no longer be able to pay their financial adviser commission for running their pension pot.
The mystery shopper, who called the Money Advice Service on 14 March, was told if commission was being ditched they would have been told and given sufficient training.
A spokesman for the Money Advice Service said the industry-funded organisation was only currently reviewing what advice its staff should give consumers about Adviser Charging.
But the spokesman insisted that Money Advice Service “advisers” would be prepared by the time they started to be quizzed by consumers about the impact of the Retail Distribution Review.
