Almost a quarter of the UK’s financial advisers are unsure of what their future professional status will be, due to uncertainty about stringent new training standards, according to CoreData Research UK.
Several details of the UK financial services industry’s Retail Distribution Review remain unclear a year before the reforms are to be fully implemented. CoreData stated there had been no clarity regarding whether grandfathering provisions would free older financial advisers from having to adhere to strict new training standards to continue practising after December 2012. About 3,500 of advisers surveyed by the researcher stated that they would leave the industry in the next three to five years, an increase from the 3,000 who made similar statements during the same period last year.
Reforms occurring in the UK are such that from the end of 2012 firms will not be able to accept commissions for recommending specific products and the cost of advice cannot be linked to the cost of product. If a firm chooses to limit its product range to certain investments or strategies, the services it can offer will be restricted, CoreData stated.
