Some of the questions posed to the panel at yesterday’s Money Marketing Retail Distribution Review Roadshow (Grocers Hall London) included:
“Do higher standards of qualification automatically result in better advice?”
The panellists were in agreement that “yes” higher qualification levels do result in better advice but Nick qualified this view.
“No, it is not qualifications in isolation that result in better advice. It is the combination of higher qualifications, coupled with relevant experience and applied with skill and integrity that results in better advice for the consumer. We absolutely do need to attain higher qualification standards”
Nick spent four years on the board of the professional body the Society of Financial Advisers (later merged with the LIA to form the Personal Finance Society) which was part of the Chartered Insurance Institute, the latter two years as Chairman of SOFA. He believes passionately in building the financial intermediary profession but recognises that qualifications in isolation do not make for a professional.
“However, too many people use experience as an excuse for not raising their own qualification standards”
A further question was “Will adviser charging (the payment method that replaces commission) work?”
Nick explained, “We have been using this approach since 2004 long before it became known as adviser charging. It has worked very well for our clients and for us. I do empathise though with those advisers who can’t or won’t adopt to this clear method of client charging”.
