The Final Countdown

There are now less than 90 days to go until the FCAs new consumer Duty Rules come into force, and a few days ago, Sheldon Mills, Executive Director, Consumers and Competition at the FCA, delivered another speech on the topic.

Now unless you’re an IFA that’s been living under a rock for the last year, by now there can’t be much you don’t know about these new rules which represent a sea change in consumer protection.

The IFAs I speak to on a regular basis, all pride themselves on offering their clients an excellent service, and have their customers best interest at heart. However, as Sheldon said in his speech.

 “We will all become ever more outcomes-and data-driven – which means focusing on results over processes – ever more attuned to the needs of consumers.”  

 So, proving you’re doing the right thing, and being able to produce reports for interrogation will be essential.

The good news is that the Duty does not have a retrospective effect, and does not apply to past actions by firms. It will apply to existing products and services on a forward-looking basis, but from the 31st it will be important for IFAs to get it right going forward.

The last 6 months has been a time when many firms have been considering future plans and how they would like to shape their client bank in the coming years. Are you an IFA whose book of business has grown organically, often over a period of many years? Have you considered how you will manage various products going forward?

Some IFAs are finding that certain parts of their book are no longer economically viable to manage, or they don’t want to manage them any more for a variety of personal reasons.

There is an answer to this situation, and we have acquirers that would be quite willing to buy clients that IFAs no longer want, or are able to provide a service for. This is a great solution for IFAs that do not want to retire, but perhaps just want to focus and streamline their business.

In the past, we have negotiated sales for as few as 30 clients, and if selling part of your book is of interest to you, please do get in touch. It’s a relatively straightforward process, to start with I would suggest you invest a little time segmenting your client bank, and then decide which ones you wish to continue with. If you need any assistance with correctly segmenting your client bank, we can help with that too.

I am happy to discuss you own set of personal circumstances in strictest confidence, as always, any first call is always at our expense.