All change in the delivery of UK Financial Services

The delivery of UK retail financial services will change at the end of this year, with the implementation of the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) Retail Distribution Review, or RDR for short from the start of 2013.

There are also many changes planned for the FSA itself, including parts of its structure changing to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), with control being maintained by the Bank of England.

I am now writing on the additional important changes for this subject in this blog because the final details have now been firmly set.

The changes

The highlights of the changes are detailed as follows:

• As before, the Financial Adviser will agree the remuneration for their services (both initial work and on-going advice) with you in advance. However, services will be paid for on a fee basis, either via an initial fee or by a deduction from the plan being established (or a combination).

• Future financial advice will be offered on an Independent, Restricted or Simplified basis. For independent advice, an Adviser must consider all relevant options for you and do so free from any restrictions or product/provider bias. This makes sure that the advice offered to you is truly independent.

• That the consumer will receive advice from qualified, competent, trained professionals who subscribe to a code of ethics (renewed each year) ensuring they act with integrity and treat their customers fairly.

How will Chapters Financial Limited meet these new requirements?

Having moved to a comparable financial advice system to the one detailed above to achieve these outcomes in May 2007, we hope that you have seen the benefit of using our service over the last five years. As we approach the end of this year, and the full implementation of these new requirements, we are delighted that we have the appropriate systems in place to be able to continue to offer independent financial advice into 2013 and beyond.

Powerful proposition

We also believe that maintaining our independent status will make our financial planning proposition even more powerful, with the numbers of other independent advice providers expected to reduce because of the new requirements being made.

We have seen the number of new enquirers and referrals from existing clients rise in recent years (as Chapters Financial Limited and formerly Churchouse Financial Planning Limited) because of the standards in financial planning that we have set and maintained and this is evidenced by the recent industry awards we have detailed in our last newsletters.

Referrals are always very welcome and we thank you, our clients and Blog visitors, for your continued support.

If you would like to consider your future financial planning further then please contact Chapters Financial Limited through this website or by telephone on 01483 578800.

No individual advice has been provided in the text of this blog and you should seek individual independent financial advice for your own circumstances.

Chapters Financial Limited is Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Number 402899