Tim Sargisson: Persistence, resilience and fighting spirit of advisers

Earlier this month, I saw a headline that declared 'Over 8,700 stores closed in the first half of 2021'. In fact, according to the Centre for Retail Research, since 2018, 153 retail companies have closed, affecting 11,546 stores, with the loss of 225,000 jobs. This number is the equivalent of the entire mid-1980s financial services salesforce, gone in the space of just three years. A comparison with what we have seen in our profession over the same period makes interesting reading. The FCA publishes an annual report on the state of the retail intermediary market, based on information ...