Robert Sinclair, chief executive of AMI, will consult the regulator following an AMI board meeting which discussed several paragraphs within the rules.
Sinclair said the rules were specifically focused on the investment market so guidance would be “helpful” on how the mortgage and protection markets should view the issues set out in the document.
He said: “The principles are clear however the markets are very different in that investments no longer allow payments by providers whereas the rules for mortgages and protection very clearly do allow commercial transactions between firms.”
Following the Retail Distribution Review which came into force on 1 January 2013, commission payments in the retail investment market paid by providers to advisers were banned in a bid to make the cost of advice clear and raise professional standards in the industry.
But the FCA said it had found evidence that firms in the investment sector were using inducements such as corporate hospitality to encourage advisers to sell their products in the absence of a direct payment.
Despite the rules specifically targeting the retail investment sector the FCA said: “Payments provided in relation to mortgage and protection business are still subject to the Principles for Businesses, including Principle 8 (Conflicts of interest), and so similar considerations apply to such payments as outlined in this guidance.”
Following the publication of the final guidelines Aviva withdrew all its corporate hospitality for its life distributors.
Sinclair said: “In the mortgage and protection world there are clearly transactions which still involve the transfer of money for the passing of business.”
He advised that in the absence of further clarification from the FCA at this time lenders and distributors have to be aware of their responsibilities under the conflict of interest rules and consider the transactions they are undertaking in relation to that.
But he added this should not signify a change in how the industry undertakes its business.
“The principles have always been there,” he added. “They have just been made clearer for investments as to how far that went.”
