The FCA is showing itself to have teeth and be able to use them. It seems to be more practical in terms of focus as it has a smaller remit.
The FSA was an all-encompassing empire and sometimes you felt like you were dealing with something out of The Lord of the Rings. They were not necessarily a regulator that was so close to the industry.
RDR was an excellent thing. Anything that makes it clearer from the consumer’s point of view in terms of what is being charged, who is being charged and for what benefit, has to be good news.
It’s going to take a decade before we can really see if it has done what it set out to achieve. But has it kicked out people who frankly weren’t providing a decent service in this industry? The answer is yes.
There were some people who shouldn’t have been in the industry but were in it for the benefit of themselves not for their clients. They have to earn their spurs.
I was convinced 7IM was going to be a success because we designed this business as if we were going to be customers of it. And we are customers.
We knew when we had clients and intermediaries feeding back to us that “this was what we wanted”. Then we knew we were doing the right thing.
We have currently more platforms than network rail developing in this country. What we have got at the moment is a crop of mushrooms sprouting up with different platforms – but no one platform has linked together as yet, and that will happen.
Care is going to be the next big market. The cost of care across the family is going to be a really crucial issue.
Active managers are only part of the story. It’s being able to use them – they are useful tools to use but they are not the only answer.
Good managers are good, bad managers are bad. Managers now have to prove themselves.
Brand is not enough. Reputation is not enough.
[Fund managers] have to reason themselves not to be a short-lived star shooting across the sky but as a sustainable, reliable and predictable star that is going to stay for a while. Those are very rare.
The financial services industry needs to grow up in terms of being able to trust information. Merely just picking [advice] off a website isn’t necessarily enough.
I think risk rating can sometimes be very dangerous. Risk rating is better than no rating but it is not the answer to everything.
Financial education is fundamental. I try to go to schools every six weeks or so.
We teach kids economics – like Britain needs another economist! People need to know how much they need to save, how do they save and why should they save – basic things we don’t teach.
People are perfectly intelligent; the industry can’t communicate properly. It’s a privilege to look after people’s money, not a right.
Someone once told me ‘rule one of investing is – don’t lose the sodding stuff. Rule two – refer to rule one.
Have respect for the money and treat it as yours. You have no right to it at all.
I wanted to be an archaeologist and at some point I will go back to university and do some post-grad work on it, either on the Hittite or Byzantine Empires. I have to do it before I become an artefact.
While I haven’t got the looks or the hat of Harrison Ford, I have got the trowel.
The red on the braces is because a lot of my family come from the Far East and in China, red is very lucky. I have red linings to my suit, red hankies and red braces and normally a red tie.
I’m stuck as a caricature of a red-braced git now. It’s now part of the brand.
