Financial advisers have largely welcomed the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) plans to scrap its requirement to conduct annual suitability reviews for firms which offer ongoing advice services, though they have cautioned that financial planners who treat this as a “cost-saving exercise” will go on to face scrutiny.
In what looks to be a U-Turn, according to Yellowtail founder and Chartered financial planner Dennis Hall, the regulator has proposed shifting the requirement for suitability reviews from annual to periodical. Hall believes the annual reviews "should never have been introduced in the first place" as they increased clients' costs. "Annual reviews with clients, for those that have them, would automatically pick up any changes in a client's circumstances that would alter the existing financial planning strategy," Hall said, "and there's sufficient scope under Consumer Duty to ensure that...
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