Opinion

The FSA has announced what had seemed inevitable given the pressure on them to maintain high standards of suitability in the face of unprecedented consumer concern.

Six weeks from now will be a time for bonfires and sparklers, but it will also mark the end of the DWP's ‘blink and you miss out' consultation period on its latest set of regulations to implement the 2008 pensions act.

The looming deadline for implementation of the RDR will have prompted many an adviser to question his or her choice of profession.

Andrew Tully, senior pensions policy manager at Standard Life

Richard Wallis, head of research and investment at Origen

Tony Clements is an IFA with Park Row Corporate and Private Clients

Rachel Vahey is head of pensions development at AEGON Scottish Equitable

I caught the tail end of the last episode of this series of Dragons' Den.

I am talking to lots of IFAs at the moment about their plans to transition their businesses to take advantage of the post RDR environment.

We have all heard of the 'nanny state', but recently I came across a term I hadn't heard before but which certainly struck a chord with me - the ‘nagging state'.