BrexitNov 23 2018

PFS's Richards blasts Brexit's bad timing for advisers

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PFS's Richards blasts Brexit's bad timing for advisers

The chief executive of the Personal Finance Society has said Brexit "couldn't have happened at a worse time" for the financial advice profession.

Keith Richards said much of the PFS's lobbying work had been hampered by the fact civil servants at HM Treasury had been moved to work on Britain's departure from the European Union.

He said: "Brexit couldn't have happened at a worse time, given the momentum that was starting to build up with the Financial Advice Market Review which was carried out by HM Treasury.

"Brexit has taken a large amount of government time which means key policies such as FAMR are now left without that focus which is so desperately needed.

"Some of the people at the Treasury we had built really good relationships with have been moved onto Brexit."

Mr Richards said the Financial Conduct Authority was still looking at these issues, but he said there was a limit to how much the regulator could do on its own without the full support of the Treasury.

He added that ultimately the government needed to "drive the agenda".

The Financial Advice Market Review was launched by the Treasury in August 2015 and its final report was published in March 2016 - just three months before Britain voted to leave the European Union.

The Treasury and the FCA are scheduled to carry out a review of what the Financial Advice Market Review managed to achieve next year.

damian.fantato@ft.com