IFA

Advisory business owners should apply the productivity ratio to staff so they can identify the best and worst performing advisers, a financial services expert has said.

Just 15% of financial advisers are ready for the Retail Distribution Review (RDR), according to research released today.

Simon Chamberlain, the founder of Succession Advisory Services, has branded life insurance companies as the ‘dark forces' of the industry and questioned their motives for setting up platforms.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has issued final guidance for firms using centralised investment propositions (CIPs), pointing out the requirements when outsourcing to a discretionary investment manager (DFM).

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) will have 'no choice' but to soften its guidelines for referrals to intermediaries, according to Ian Muirhead managing director of SIFA.

A former adviser at Dunedin Independent, which recently went into administration, has taken over its assets and client bank.

Independent network Sense has become the first network to negotiate a deal with SIFA Professional.

Over half of IFAs deal with two or more SIPP providers for expertise, according to research from Splice Consulting.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has warned providers are still using confusion around independence requirements to promote unregulated collective investment schemes (UCIS) to advisers.

UCIS CONCERNS