Regulators, politicians, advisory practitioners, and European national trade associations attended a conference where they discussed the impact of regulation on consumers and advisers.
Attendees at the conference – organised by the European Federation of Financial Advisers and Intermediaries (FECIF) – agreed that industry and regulatory bodies need to ensure regulation “protects consumers in a sensible and proportional manner, and doesn’t inadvertently impact on them negatively”.
It was concluded that “regulation must benefit consumers, not exclude them”, which FECIF secretary general, Paul Stanfield, said echoes the views of the head of EIOPA (European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority), Gabriel Bernadino, who argued that better regulation was needed, not more.
The conference also revealed that many stakeholders had little appetite for a commission ban. FECIF’s deputy chairman Johannes Muschik, said: “Attendees felt that such a ban could be disastrous if implemented across Europe, particularly for consumers, many of whom could become disenfranchised from advice”.
An example of this was the UK introducing a commission ban under the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) which has been blamed for an advice gap.
Last month, International Adviser reported that up to 3.5 million consumers may now be “divorced” from advice.
The results were collated from the Heath Report, written by the former director general of the IFA Association, Garry Heath, which came two years after the implementation of RDR at the end of 2012.
Meanwhile, it was announced that “interesting trends” have emerged from research which is currently being collated by FECIF across Europe’s financial sector. The results for this are expected to be published next year.
FECIF, which represents about 30 trade organisations, more than 200,000 advisers, and 400,000 employees, recently added the protection of consumers as one of its points of interest.
