Labour MP John Mann asked Bailey: “When it comes to RDR we’ve seen people hung out to dry over a long period of time – is this what consumers can now expect from the FCA?”
Having only been in post for three weeks, Bailey stated that RDR pre-dated his appointment but said: “The issue with the RDR is that it tackled two things at least, it tackled opaque commission and it tackled the general question of qualifications and training for the adviser population.”
He added that it contributed, but wasn’t the only factor, to creating the advice gap.
“The so-called FAMR proposals have got to actually fill that gap and we’ve got to be very clear, I think, in implementing them and keep asking ourselves the question will they do it or not?”
When prompted, Bailey said: “I think they have the potential to do it but I don’t think we can sign that one off with conviction yet.”
Didn’t get RDR right?
“So even after all this preparation with RDR, we still didn’t get it right, or rather the FCA didn’t get it right,” asked Treasury Committee chair Andrew Tyrie.
“A lot of it rests on the question, will we get useful technology that will be put to work and the jury is out on that one.
“Not because fintech is bad, but can it do the sort of iterative advice-type processes that you need in that world?” Bailey asked.
