There are only two trade associations. I’d prefer there to be one but it’s got to be one that’s got unity, and a purpose.
There are only two trade associations. I’d prefer there to be one but it’s got to be one that’s got unity, and a purpose.
Apfa’s had the trade association world to itself for 15 years but has done precious little with it apart from lose members. That’s why we felt there should be competition.
I am looking actively for a good consumer rep to join Libertatem’s formation committee. I was looking at one but they became a government minister.
It’s an excellent move for Baroness Altman. Probably an excellent move for people who want a pension as well.
Politicians quite often propose things without really understanding the intricacies of what they’re about to propose and everybody else has got to play catch up. This is not a new thing.
Politicians don’t do detail. This batch has no life experience outside politics. They don’t even understand the language of the problem let alone what problem they are creating.
It would have been better if the government had turned to the industry and said, “we’re thinking of doing this, what do you think?” As an industry we have got to get to a situation where rather than being treated as some sort of enemy, we are brought into the story and our expertise comes in at an early design stage.
It would be lovely to see a better relationship between government and the industry. That’s certainly something I want to encourage.
We’ve got to give some thought to compensation for those who truly deserve it; no-one’s got an argument with that. And then cut down the amount of ambulance-chasing and try-your-luck type of claims.
Claim rates are terribly small, but when you’ve got one it really does muck up the management of the business for a very long time. Every moment spent on some hooky claim from an ambulance chaser is a moment not spent advising a proper client.
The biggest risk the man on the No. 11 bus will face is not doing anything. He could actually end up with not the most perfect product but still be a lot better off than the guy who did nothing.
When you listen to the regulator’s rhetoric you would think that anything and everything done by this industry is dodgy at best, and at worst completely dangerous. We’ve got to look at how the regulator’s PR deals with people being fined so that it doesn’t appear to be every day.
Our share of Fos claims is 0.7 per cent, and successful claims about two in a thousand. We are hardly at the races.
A well-organised IFA sector could suggest that actually it didn’t need to be regulated. We’ve grown up with a regulatory system that’s getting bigger by 10 per cent a year compound, so were going to end up trying to cut down its size.
Some have gone fee-based. They now want to be only fee-based, which means many don’t do protection any more. A lot of investment advisers tell their clients to go and find protection somewhere else. I don’t think that’s very healthy
Commission is never going to come back as it was, and it’s a very good idea it doesn’t. But we have to find a method by which people can pay for advice when they need it at a cost they perceive is reasonable and spread over a period.
The biggest change has been the conversion of salesmen to advisers. If you look at the industry as it is now, it is vastly more professional and I think that’s fantastic.
The best advice I was ever given was “Do not enter a pissing competition with a skunk.” It was about me taking on a regulator over some matter which I would never win; they were probably right.
