The Investing and Saving Alliance (TISA) has welcomed the recognition in a new report from the House of Lords Financial Services Regulation Committee that far too few people in the UK are able to access financial advice.
TISA is is referenced in the report, Growing pains: clarity and culture change required. It contributed via the oral evidence presented by Carol Knight, CEO and Lisa Laybourn, Director of Strategy and Business Management.
Through this, TISA provided insight into key barriers limiting consumer access to financial advice – an issue highlighted by the Committee as a major concern in delivering on the UK’s long-term competitiveness and growth objectives.
The report reflects TISA’s assessment that the current regulatory framework around financial advice is restricting the ability of the majority of UK adults to seek professional help when managing their savings and investments.
Carol Knight, CEO of TISA, said of the overall report findings: “We are proud to have contributed to this important inquiry and to see TISA’s evidence cited in the Committee’s final report. The recognition of the growing advice gap — something we have consistently raised — is a crucial step toward ensuring that more UK consumers can access the help they need to make informed financial decisions.”
“We welcome the FCA’s ongoing efforts, including the Advice Guidance Boundary Review, and encourage further collaborative work between regulators and industry to unlock innovation and widen access to financial support. Getting this right is essential not only for consumer outcomes, but also for driving long-term competitiveness and inclusive growth across the UK economy.”
The report – available here – also “identified a prevalent lack of proportionality in the regulators’ approach, such as the FCA’s failure to sufficiently distinguish between wholesale and retail markets and the PRA’s approach to capital requirements,” according to the outline by the Committee on its work.
“The report also underlines that regulatory uncertainty regarding the interpretation of the Consumer Duty and the interaction between the FCA’s rules and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)’s decision processes may reduce the attractiveness of investing in the UK.”
