The advice gap is back under the spotlight in a new focus to engage more consumers in their financial wellbeing and we’ll be directly responding to the Advice Guidance Boundary Review. This is the FCA’s request for feedback on their initial proposals to create a regulatory system where a range of commercially viable, high-quality models of support will enable consumers to get the help they want, at a time they need it and at a cost that’s affordable. It’s clearly an important piece of work and we encourage all interested parties to respond, the deadline is 28 February 2024.
And we await with interest the FCA’s report setting out the findings of their Thematic review of retirement income advice, due this quarter.
The Financial Vulnerability Taskforce Charter has proved very popular with the personal finance profession. Thousands have adopted it, receiving a charter logo and Consumer Guide to help highlight the services and support they provide to existing and new clients.
We’ve also seen interest in its adoption from the legal and accountancy professions, so we’ve revised the original charter to make it relevant to all three professions. The new tripartite charter is available on this webpage and we’ve issued a new Consumer Guide to all adopters of the charter.
Have you and your firm adopted the Financial Vulnerability Taskforce Charter yet? We encourage you to do so; vulnerability and Consumer Duty go hand in hand, adopting the charter is free and you’ll receive a logo and Consumer Guide to use in client communications. Find out how to adopt the charter.
We’ll soon be announcing details of this year’s Alliance Forums. We’ll have more Technology Forums, more Consumer Duty Champions’ Forums and we’re finalising arrangements for two new Forums: the New Talent Alliance (focussing on attracting and developing new talent within the profession) and the Cross-border Advice Forum (for professionals with UK consumers across the EU).
Please make sure you’re following us on LinkedIn and X (Twitter) to get the latest news on these and other Alliance activity.
Very best wishes for a successful 2024,
Keith Richards, CEO, Consumer Duty Alliance and Chairman, Financial Vulnerability Taskforce
