IFAs Look Well Placed To Meet The Challenge Thrown Down By The Retail Distribution Review

25 November 2008

IFAs Look Well Placed To Meet The Challenge Thrown Down By The Retail Distribution Review

• Almost 3000 IFA firms already have at least one IFA holding a QCA Level 4 qualification
• Unbiased.co.uk is fully supportive of the position on ‘Independence’ and cautiously welcomes ‘Adviser Charging’

Responding to the interim Retail Distribution Review statement, published today by the Financial Services Authority – Unbiased.co.uk, the online ‘Find an IFA’ search, says analysis of its members suggests that IFAs are well placed to meet the challenge of increased professionalism.

The 17,000 registered individuals (IFAs) listed on Unbiased.co.uk’s database currently hold 14,435 qualifications incremental to the current benchmark.   These qualifications are all verified by Unbiased.co.uk with the relevant the awarding bodies.  

This number has also increased week on week since the beginning of 2008 – with 960 more incremental qualifications now held.   This is a 7% increase of the number of qualifications held at the beginning of the year.

Such is the self motivated increase in professionalism being undertaken by IFAs that consumers using Unbiased.co.uk are already extremely likely to be able to find a registered individual close to their home with an incremental qualification.  

Of the 8759 branch addresses held on Unbiased.co.uk’s ‘Find an IFA’ search, 2957, or 34%, already have at least one registered individual with at least one verified QCA Level 4 qualification.

David Elms, Chief Executive of Unbiased.co.uk, comments:

“Our evidence shows that the IFA sector is well placed to meet to the increased professionalism announced in today’s interim Retail Distribution Review Statement.   Many IFAs already hold the relevant qualifications – and we have seen a self-motivated increase in professionalism in the sector over recent years.

“This is timely – given that 35% of all enquirers using Unbiased.co.uk to find a local IFA are now selecting an IFA based on the incremental qualification held.”

Commenting on the rest of the interim statement – David Elms continues:

“Unbiased.co.uk has always maintained that the only credible outcome for the Retail Distribution Review is for the term independent to be linked to whole of market advice and for the new distribution system to be easily understood by consumers.

“Looking forward, we believe today’s announcement is positive for both the IFA sector, but also – more importantly – the consumer.   The key to the forthcoming debate is ensuring that ‘Adviser charging’ is applied consistently across all adviser types.”

ENDS

For further information please contact:

For expert comment or case studies from over 200 media-friendly IFAs, journalists should visit www.unbiased.co.uk/bluebook to search online or call Unbiased.co.uk’s Media Services hotline on 020 7294 3682.

PLEASE NOTE: We have now discontinued the consumer hotline and so consumers seeking an IFA should visit www.unbiased.co.uk

1.      Unbiased.co.uk

Unbiased.co.uk is a not for profit organisation which promotes the benefits of Independent Financial Advice to UK consumers. 

Unbiased.co.uk, which is in its 19^th year, helps create over 7,500 pieces of positive coverage in the consumer media each year, highlighting the importance of seeking independent financial advice across online, broadcast and print media. This positive media generation influences consumers’ behaviour and increases their awareness of the benefits of seeing an IFA.

Unbiased.co.uk is now the online gateway between consumers researching their financial advice options online and IFAs. Over 60 white label versions of Unbiased.co.uk’s confidential ‘Find an IFA’ service are now running on partner websites including those of media and portal money channels, product provider sponsors and other industry bodies.

Over the past 12 months, over 525,000 consumers have used Unbiased.co.uk’s  ‘Find an IFA search’, or one of the white labels, to find a local IFA – and 94% of these enquiries were dealt with online.

When searching for a ‘Find an IFA’ on UK Google, around 80% of the returned links over the first five pages of search results now display either Unbiased.co.uk directly or a white label version of Unbiased.co.uk’s ‘Find an IFA’ service running on a partner website. To support this activity Unbiased.co.uk now regularly provides white label versions of its consumer guides, tools, microsites and podcasts to partner personal finance websites.

2.      Unbiased.co.uk’s product provider sponsors

Registered Office: Unbiased.co.uk is the consumer brand of IFA Promotion Ltd, 90 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow G2 5UB. Registered in Scotland: No. 114606