It has published a guidance consultation on a series of issues which came out of the Financial Advice Market Review.
These include streamlined advice, and the FCA has now published guidance to give firms confidence to provide this service.
For example it suggested that firms should have a âclear ideaâ of the type of clients the service is aimed at and could âtriageâ them to make sure they receive an appropriate service.
Streamlined advice is a term used by the FCA to collectively describe advisory services (such as focused and simplified advice) that provide a personal recommendation that is limited to one or more of a clientâs specific needs.
The service does not involve analysis of the clientâs circumstances that are not directly relevant to those needs.
Firms offering streamlined advice can only collect information that is necessary to provide a suitable recommendation, but they have been warned that this does not allow them to lower the level of protections they owe to their clients.
For example clients buying an investment product need to be asked about their level of indebtedness and access to liquid cash.
The FCA said: âSome firms have asked for more clarity on the amount of information they should collect from their client when offering such a service.
âIt is not possible to be prescriptive about the detailed information required, since it will always depend on the particular situation and the many factors involved.â
It added that offering streamlined advice does not allow firms to create âambiguity or confusionâ about their responsibilities.
The FCA said: âThe suitability assessment is a firmâs responsibility and a firm should avoid indicating to the client that a certain financial instrument is the one that the client chose as being suitable, or requiring the client to confirm that an instrument or service is suitable.â
Elsewhere, the consultation also discussed the process of carrying out a fact find and the âportabilityâ of this information from one adviser to another.
But the FCA has said that standardisation could most easily be achieved on the âobjectiveâ information provided in a fact find, such as a clientâs name, address or job.
And it said that this element of the fact find is already broadly standardised across the market.
It said: âThe remaining information, however, is more qualitative. This includes information such as the clientâs level of knowledge, previous investment experience, and attitude to risk.
âThe qualitative information may present greater challenges in terms of standardisation, because the manner in which this is collected is generally determined by firmsâ methodology for assessing the qualitative information.â
It has therefore proposed that it will not publish a standardised fact find proforma.
The consultation also looked at non-advised services and warned advisers that providing a personal recommendation would be a regulated activity even if it was implicit.
Advisers are being invited to respond to the consultation. The FCA aims to publish a response to the consultation in September, with a package of measures taking effect in January 2016.
damian.fantato@ft.com