OpinionMar 11 2015

Professionalism not just about exams

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Roy Durrant (FA 26 February) says that just raising exams qualifications would have cost a fraction of the eventual RDR costs. Well true, but in my view the whole exam thing got in the way of the importance of RDR.

The real value of RDR, and we are now seeing the benefits, is the fact that as a profession we now outline to clients what they are paying for, we have an unbiased advice mechanism, and we have clearer communication. That is how we have become “more like accountants and solicitors” as was the oft-cited phrase used in the run-up to RDR.

The reality of RDR was that if you were not level 4 on 1 January 2013 you were out of business, but if you were level 4 but had given very little thought to your client proposition (the real value) then you were not. It is no surprise therefore that 90 per cent of the effort was put towards an area that did very little for the consumer.

Ian McIver

South Wales Education Officer, PFS,

Head of sales, IFA Compliance,

Cheltenham