Confusion surrounds adviser charging rules for platforms

Scott Sinclair
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The FSA remains undecided over how to apply its adviser charging rules to platforms less than three months before a planned Policy Statement and amid growing calls for the total unbundling of costs.

According to sources invited by the regulator to discuss platform charges, the FSA is concerned by what it calls the "significant variation in the nature and transparency of platform charges". However, it appears unsure how to address the issue despite many in the platform industry believing unbundling of charges is the likely outcome. A Policy Statement on adviser charging - designed to remove the potential for product or provider bias from the advice process and a central tenet of the RDR - is due for publication before the end of March. According to a study conducted by financi...

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