The end of this year sees the introduction of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR); a regulatory initiative from the Financial Services Authority designed to raise levels of professionalism amongst all those offering financial advice.
One requirement of the Retail Distribution Review is that all financial advisers are properly qualified.
This includes holding a mandatory Level 4 professional qualification, completing some defined Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activity in order to fill any knowledge gaps and applying for a Statement of Professional Standing (SPS) from an accredited professional body.
Here at Informed Choice we have been preparing for the Retail Distribution Review for a long time.
We believe that these regulatory changes are important to ensure consumers of retail financial services receive the highest standard of financial advice with the lowest risk of bad advice being delivered.
To ensure we were RDR-ready ahead of time, we set ourselves a deadline of 30th June 2012 (six months earlier than the FSA deadline) for all of our Financial Planners to pass a Level 4 professional qualification, complete their gap filling and obtain a Statement of Professional Standing.
We are very pleased to report that Informed Choice is now ready for the Retail Distribution Review.
All nine Financial Planners at Informed Choice now hold a Statement of Professional Standing from the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). We have successfully operated on an ‘adviser charging’ basis since 2004 and we are committed to independence, under both the existing and new definitions of the term.
This year is so important for our clients, with interest rates remaining at a historic low and market uncertainty refusing to go away.
Taking a proactive approach towards becoming RDR-ready was important for our clients because it enables our Financial Planners to provide them with an attentive service, rather than focusing solely on examination study and gap-filling activity from now until the end of year deadline.
All investors should check that their IFA or Financial Planner holds a valid Statement of Professional Standing as this is an important indicator that the adviser is in the best possible position to provide best advice.
You can find links to our SPS certificates on our individual profile pages.
