Armchair Critic: Why providers must rise to the John Lewis challenge

The Greek situation pending, most of the world's major stock markets are at or near all-time highs. We are out of recession, house prices remain buoyant, inflation is negligible and interest rates remain at historical lows. At the same time, UK savings ratios are low as consumption picks up, yet retail investment levels remain high. There are too few financial advisers and, though non-advised solutions are developing, it is happening too slowly to narrow the various ‘gaps' (advice, savings, protection). Certain successes are clear: auto-enrolment is working and has a good chance of be...