Informed Choice responds to Retail Distribution Review (RDR) Consultation Paper

Informed Choice, the award-winning firm of Chartered Financial Planners, has today responded to the FSA Consultation Paper CP08/19 Distribution of Retail Investments: Delivering the Retail Distribution Review.

Within this response, we are broadly supportive of the proposals.

We agree that the range of products on offer is an important measure of 'independence', but go on to suggest that equally as important are independence of outcome and independence of ownership. In fact, it is the combination of these three factors which results in true independence and impartiality.

We encourage the FSA to introduce a mandatory written and verbal disclosure statement for all firms offering 'restricted' advice under the new regime. This will be important to ensure that restricted advisers do not resort to 'weasel words' in their description of non-independent services.

We are fully supportive of the proposals for Adviser Charging, and cite our own successful experience of introducing this remuneration model. We do ask the FSA to consider a highly transparent form of industry standard factoring for regular payment plans, to help ease the transition for those adviser caught in the old commission mindset.

Rather than establish a new Professional Standards Board with its own Code of Ethics, we ask the FSA to consider making membership of an existing professional body mandatory under the new regime. This would, in our opinion, prevent the introduction of an additional layer of cost and bureaucracy.

You can download and read our response in full at http://www.box.net/shared/r1nxfv20pr.