Mortgage News
Sesame calls on FSA to back down on complaints shelf-life
Sesame Bankhall’s MD of distribution is urging the FSA to back down on its decision not to introduce a 15-year long-stop on complaints, or face losing much needed corporate investment into the shrinking IFA sector.
Nick Kelly says large firms from both the UK and US could start eyeing up advisory firms if measures are taken to make the environment more appealing.
He says it is a major issue for individual firms, the regulator and the industry to ensure there are enough new advisers to replace those leaving in the run-up to RDR, with some surveys citing exit figures as high as 40%.
Kelly believes firms should be incentivised by the regulator to bring in new recruits, while barriers must be brought down to help attract fresh investment.
He says: “Advice models will change over the next few years with the development of a call centre type environment and access to individual ‘gold-plated’ advice will be in shorter supply.
“We need to help advisers into the market and help them to stay there. I think it was a missed opportunity not introducing the long-stop as it puts off investors into the sector who are reluctant to take the risk of complaints 25 or 30 years down the line. I hope the FSA comes back to it at some point.”
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In its November 2008 RDR Feedback statement, the FSA said it did not believe there was enough evidence of the benefits of a long-stop to justify re-introducing it.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights also dropped its investigation into the lack of a 15-year long stop for IFAs last November.