The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today published a call for evidence on the impact of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) and the Financial Advice Market Review (FAMR).

The authority has requested that initial evidence be submitted by 3 June 2019, with the final report expected to be published in 2020.

Commenting on the announcement, Hargreaves Lansdown head of policy Tim McPhail said: “Most of the time most people just want a bit of help and guidance. There’s plenty of evidence that access to the right guidance and reassurance can transform people’s confidence, their engagement and their attitudes to investing; ultimately it can make a significant positive impact on their financial futures.”

According to McPhail, the availability and the certainty surrounding the quality of guidance has not been “adequately addressed”. The head of policy highlighted that firms are often wary of “crossing the boundary” into inadvertently giving advice, which in turn results in them not providing their customers with the advice they seek.

“The review announced today looks well placed to gather evidence on how to build on the success of existing reforms, and extend consumer access to advice and guidance while maintaining high levels of consumer protection.”

“The nature of financial advice is also changing, with a trend away from the old model of a recurring relationship with regular fees, towards a more transactional approach, where people buy advice to address specific issues, as and when they need to,” he concluded.

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