Adviser questioning 'could limit access to advice'

In its formal response to the FSA’s discussion paper on the responsibilities of providers and distributors, AIFA says it is concerned about the potential unintended consequences of the phrase, “if the distributor is not clear about the information [from a provider, they should be] questioning the provider”. AIFA points out with 5,079 financial advisory firms in existence, providers will not be in a position to handle requests for clarification. In order to limit regulatory exposure, AIFA says providers may wish to only construct products for certain large or specialist firms, or they m...