RDR

Applewood Wealth Management has outlined plans to acquire six adviser businesses over the next 12 months.

IFAs face a race against time to get in shape for the RDR, with some firms plagued by a mindset of resistance to change, according to transitional planning firm FP Advance.

An asset management company is set to launch offering low cost passive investment solutions to IFAs.

The RDR will leave advisers accustomed to a commission structure struggling to survive, writes David Dodds, financial planning director at Wade Financial Services. But what about life coaching, cash flow planning and whole of market advising?

A suggestion financial advisers should be allowed to take resource material into examinations to better replicate their working conditions has sparked a frenzied debate among industry figures.

Adviser anger over FSA plans to change protection commission disclosure is building ahead of a consultation on the issue in March.

Advisers are being warned ‘alternative' assessment methods proposed by the FSA as a different route to QCF level four will be just as rigorous as written exams.

Mark Benson, technical manager at WAY Investment Services, says there are various ways IFAs can prepare for the increase in the minimum qualification level proposed in the RDR...

"No adviser wearing the independent label should be financially rewarded by the products they sell."

Advisers should be allowed to take research books into examinations to replicate the resources they have on hand in the workplace, says AWD Group's Martyn Laverick.