Rise of the fee-based IFA

The industry has come a long way since the days of the 'people don't just buy life insurance - it has to be sold' era, before the Financial Services Act was introduced. At the time it seemed life offices would offer agencies to anyone who could generate a steady flow of business for them. Nowadays the emphasis has changed; the focus is much more on the advisory aspect of the role and much less on 'salesmanship'. Banks and direct distributors have increasingly taken the lower and middle ground while IFAs tend to operate at the top end of the market, dealing with more sophisticated investors...