Nick Eatock: Improving access to financial advice

The FCA recently issued its report into the evaluation of the impact of the RDR and FAMR, looking at whether the regulations had the desired effect on the industry, including improved access to advice. One stat in the paper that caught my attention, was the regulator's estimate that ‘robo' advice assets have increased by 700% in the last three years. It found that as at Q3 2019, assets under advice for automated advice services stood at £3.2bn, up from £400m in Q3 2016. Although a significant increase, to put this in content, it represents less than 0.5% of the retail investment market. ...