Nearly three quarters (73%) of financial advisers are not ready to implement their Consumer Duty requirements, according to Copia Capital Management.
The survey of 74 advisers found 65% said they were lagging behind with the regulation, while 8% said they hadn’t started working on the Consumer Duty yet.
Some 27% confirmed that they had done everything that they needed to do to comply with the rules.
The poll was conducted as part of a webinar on preparing for consumer-duty requirements, with input from Copia’s managing director, Robert Vaudry, its head of investments, Joanne Benson and Mike Barrett, consulting director at the Lang Cat.
“It’s dangerously naive to segment your advice proposition by wealth,” warned Barrett, when referring to the requirements of the target-market assessment under Consumer Duty.
He added: “Two people with the same level of assets could have very different requirements from their financial planning. It’s best practice to segment around need. This should take into account that even those who share the same need from an investment point of view, for instance saving for retirement, may have different needs from a tax and financial planning perspective.
“Most advisers know their customers well, so this won’t be a huge shift. It is just a case of identifying and documenting these detailed target-market segments, so you can then demonstrate through your research and due-diligence processes how the products and services you recommend, including the platform and investment services you use, meet the needs of your target clients.”
