UK financial advisers and providers should see the opportunity presented by the Financial Conduct Authority's advice guidance boundary proposals to help close the financial education gap in the country.
This is the view of Keith Richards, chief executive and founder of the Consumer Duty Alliance, who said the review was a natural progression from the consumer duty regulations, with that focus on the best outcomes for consumers.
He said: "The advice boundary review is an essential focus under consumer duty obligations.
"It is an opportunity for government, regulator and the sector to collaborate in addressing the evident lack of consumer awareness and engagement to meet financial goals and needs which ultimately address and mitigate potential foreseeable harm."
Speaking a few days after the FCA told FT Adviser it was working with the advice community to ensure the measures set out in the review were effectively implemented, Richards said advisers were "well placed" to play a key role.
He said: "The advice profession is well established and therefore well placed to continue playing a key role in addressing the advice gap but we simply don’t have the scale or capacity to close the gap for all consumers.
"This is why Targeted Support, or perhaps better described as ‘Assisted Guidance’ could play a significant role in closing the financial engagement gap for millions of consumers with less complex financial needs.”
No need to wait
Last week, FT Adviser reported on comments by Sarah Pritchard, executive director of markets for the FCA, who said advisers did not need to wait for the advice guidance boundary review to conclude to make improvements.
Speaking at a press conference for the FCA’s annual public meeting on September 26, Pritchard was asked what further work the regulator was doing with the advice community to ensure the measures set out in the review were effectively implemented.
She said: "We don't need to wait for that reform to conclude before we're able to make some improvements, specifically around firms that are concerned about crossing the advice guidance boundary as it currently stands.
“Just in August last year, we gave some extra, quite practical guidance to help encourage firms to get up to the current boundary, to give them greater comfort around how to give advice without that, or give guidance without that crossing into personal recommendation.”
At FT Adviser's Financial Advice Forum on September 23, the majority of advisers present took part in a poll, in which they said the FCA's advice guidance boundary proposals were positive, although believed they would take a long time to implement fully.
Have your say
FT Adviser is supporting the implementation of targeted support under the FCA's advice guidance boundary review.
As part of our campaign to support the industry through this, we will continue to provide practical examples of how this can be implemented.
