Of the 137 professional financial advisers canvassed during September and October 2014, 13% said they had stopped offering services as a direct consequence of the implementation of the Retail Distribution Review.
The research, conducted by PollRight, also found that 56% of the advisers were planning to stop servicing some existing client accounts over the next 12 months.
Stuart Dyer, chief investment officer at Rplan said: “Investors are clearly finding it more difficult to secure financial advice and given that our findings reveal 56% of advisers are planning to stop servicing some existing client accounts over the next 12 months, the advice gap is likely to become bigger.”
Other key findings were that 33% of advisers have established or increased a minimum portfolio size for clients, and 26% of all the sample required a minimum investment of at least £30,000. See table below.
Minimum investment required post RDR (% of advisers)
- Under £10,000 ( 2%)
- Between £10,001 and £30,000 (4%)
- Between £30,001 and £50,000 (10%)
- Over £50,000 (16%)
To read about how some advisers are expected to fail to complete the transition from commission to fee-based remuneration in time for the FCA’s deadline because of fears over client and revenue loss, click here.
