WIREDGOV

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has today published proposals to build people’s trust and confidence in the retail investment market.

The FSA has issued a consultation paper on its Retail Distribution Review (RDR), which sets out detailed proposals to implement the wide-ranging reforms it outlined in November last year.  The changes, which will take effect from the end of 2012, will improve outcomes for savers and investors by enhancing the quality of advice they receive, and prepare both consumers and the industry for the future. 

In particular, the FSA is consulting on rules to ensure that:

• Independent advice is truly independent and reflects investors’ needs;
• People can clearly identify and understand the service they are being offered;
• Commission-bias is removed from the system – and recommendations made by advisers are not influenced by product providers;
• Investors know up-front how much advice is going to cost and how they will pay for it; and
• All investment advisers will be qualified to a new, higher level, regarded as equivalent to the first year of a degree.

The FSA is calling on all investment advisers to consider how they will adapt to these reforms.  Although challenging, the RDR presents a significant opportunity for firms and individuals in the retail investment market to modernise practices, raise standards and improve the way they treat their customers.

Jon Pain, FSA managing director of retail markets, said:

"The RDR is about regaining consumer trust and confidence in the retail investment market, building a more sustainable sector and making it easier for people to find their way around and get the help they need – this is more important now than ever before.    

"We have today set out the specific changes we propose to make to implement our far-reaching package of measures.  This is a call to action for the industry - all investment advisers need to consider how they will respond and implement these wide-ranging and challenging improvements by the 2012 deadline.

"Throughout this process there has been close involvement of the industry and consumer groups, and we look forward to stakeholders’ continued engagement and to receiving their views on the detailed proposals we are setting out today."

The FSA is inviting stakeholders to comment on its detailed rules for implementing the RDR – the closing date for responses is 30 October 2009.

Notes for editors

1. The FSA’s consultation paper on the RDR (CP09/18), was published today.
2. The FSA's RDR feedback statement was published in November 2008.  The discussion paper on the RDR was published in June 2007, and the interim report was published in April 2008.
3. To help investment advisers understand the detailed proposals it is setting out today, the FSA has published a series of factsheets on its small firms website.
4. The FSA has today also published the research which has informed its consultation paper: ‘Retail Distribution Review proposals: Impact on market structure and competition’ by Oxera; ‘Describing advice services and adviser charging’ by IFF Research; and ‘Firm behaviour and incremental compliance costs’ by Deloitte.
5. The FSA will publish a separate consultation paper in Q4 2009 on the creation of an independent Professional Standards Board, which will be responsible for maintaining and enforcing the new professionalism standards in the RDR.  It will also consult in Q4 2009 on the application of the RDR proposals to the corporate pensions market.
6. The FSA will be publishing a policy statement in Q4 2009 on prudential rules for Personal Investment Firms (PIFs), following its consultation paper of November 2008. 
7. The Financial Services Skills Council will be consulting in August 2009 on the content of the higher level qualifications for investment advisers.
8. The FSA regulates the financial services industry and has four objectives under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000: maintaining market confidence; promoting public understanding of the financial system; securing the appropriate degree of protection for consumers; and fighting financial crime.
9. The FSA aims to promote efficient, orderly and fair markets, help retail consumers achieve a fair deal and improve its business capability and effectiveness.