Why things will never be the same for platforms

Grabbing the headlines was the eagerly-anticipated platform policy paper in August. Everyone expected the unexpected and the regulator did not disappoint. In yet another dramatic twist to the rebate debate, the FSA said both fund manager and cash rebates will be banned pending further research. But with final charging rules not coming into effect until after RDR, the industry is now faced with the a two-stepped regulatory overhaul. The FSA's plan to ban fund manager rebates effectively made the supermarket model obsolete and set in motion a tectonic shift in the platform landscape,...