FSA yet to explain 44% decrease in adviser numbers

In a consultation paper on professionalism published last month, the FSA said it monitors about 48,000 individual investment advisers currently approved to offer advice in the retail market. But in a consultation paper published in June 2009, the regulator said it estimated RDR costs based on a population of 60,000 advisers. It also acknowledged there may be as many as 85,000 advisers registered. After the publication of the June 2010 paper, AIFA said the "unexplained" reduction in adviser numbers represented a "cause for concern" and deserved immediate clarification by the FSA. Bu...