Financial advice

The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) is currently undertaking a survey of consumers to see what impact the changes brought about by the Retail Distribution Review has had on them and their view of advice.

Advisers have welcomed the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) first crack-down on an advisory firm which had permissions to advise but no actual qualified advisers, although they say the regulator should have acted sooner.

Growing adviser confidence in market performance and increased consumer desire for long-term financial planning are expected to bring beta back into client portfolios in the coming years, a BlackRock survey has suggested.

More than half of consumers believe they would benefit from seeking financial advice, according to a report out today.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is not prescriptive about how firms deliver their services because it knows advice can be given in an "infinite variety of ways" - but it has communicated four steps firms should follow to satisfy its requirements....

The advice industry is paralysed by a fear of doing wrong, which has led to a "commoditisation of investment solutions", Ashcourt Rowan chief executive Jonathan Polin has said.

FIVE THINGS

Advisory firm Skipton Financial Services (SFS) has set aside around £9m to cover costs associated with a review into its investment advice which identified documentation issues in a number of cases.

Advisers remain the preferred source of information for small firms when choosing a company pension, one year after the government's campaign for auto-enrolment first launched, new research suggests.

BARGAIN