26th January 2011
IFA letter of the week - FSA RDR & EU LAW
With regard to the RDR debate the European element has been largely ignored but some are taking notice: http://www.international-adviser.com/article/eu-passporting-blow-to-rdr
The Issue
If you ask the questions you may be surprised with the answers you can get!
I have specifically asked the Commissioner for Internal Markets and Services about EU law and super-equivalence and the above link reports the findings!
The FSA RDR actions are in danger of handing over to the EU a huge financial advantage over UK based and regulated advisers who face heightened competition from other EEA states, and will be unable to respond because their hands are tied.
Comments (5)
So how many directly regulated smaller firms will be able to take advantage of this? Let’s say for example that you want to be passported from France or Germany. How many of you speak and read fluent French or German? Do you expect to be able to apply for authorisation in a foreign jurisdiction merely using English?
How long will the authorisation process take? Do you think that a foreign regulator is just going to wave you in? What will they charge you?
The very big boys (networks etc) might get their act together and apply – but how long will that take and what will it cost?
When (if) you eventually succeed, just be prepared to have our regulator all over you like a rash. A comma in the wrong place and you’ll be dragged off to the Tower.
All cloud cuckoo land from what I can see.
Harry Katz 28/01/2011 09:12
There are several. Even the agencies are established. For a significant number of UK Network members it would be just another Network but with significantly less cost and significantly better regulatory conditions.
Best regards
SIMON MANSELL
Simon Mansell 28/01/2011 10:51
I'm sure that is so, but just as in my reference to Networks, there are some of us who so value our independence that we would rather leave the industry than be tied.
Just imagine being dictated to by a foreign firm that has no real culture of independence. You'll be flogging expensive AXA products before you know it! That is a price that some of us are just not willing to pay and makes an exam or an assessment look very attractive by comparison.
I was really referring to the option of remaining independent. In other words not “selling our birthright for a mess of pottage”
Harry Katz 29/01/2011 11:05
One result of RDR will be "restricted advice" mainly because "independence" will be impossible to prove and consequently defend. This will suit the UK Networks because most are now owned by poor quality providers who see RDR as a method of buying business (by restricted tied advisers) that could not be secured by choice!
In short RDR has done the Networks a favour. As a member of AIFA you will also know that AIFA is funded by the Networks and IFA membership is made up of block Network applications where individuals have no choice. Not only have we had the Silence of the Networks we has also had the Silence of AIFA, funded by Networks.
You say Harry that some of us value our independence that we would rather leave the industry than be tied to an EU firm. I think this is a rather romantic view of independence. For the vast majority the issue is one of survival and it seems to me our EU friends know more about freedom and human rights than our UK regulators and their beneficiaries namely those who will benefit by resricted choice and the demise of UK regulated IFA's.
Simon Mansell 01/02/2011 12:11
I hope you are both wrong, but time will tell.
Oh and I'm glad that you have become a devoted Europhile. Another charactersitic I have maintained since the days of Ted Heath!
Harry Katz 01/02/2011 18:24
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