25th February 2014

NMBA: Our profession needs you!

NMBA will always seek opportunities to act in the best interests of our Members, and one of the many ways we already do this is to highlight initiatives that will positively affect you and our profession.

Below are two extremely worthwhile campaigns that we encourage all of our Members to support. Firstly, in association with our partner Zurich, we have APFA's Fair Liability 4 Advice proposition, leading the way for protection under their longstop campaign.

Secondly, is the Consumer Confidence Campaign from the PFS, which aims to change the consumers' perception of our profession, as well as creating more awareness and trust of the financial advisory commmunity.

We would like to thank you for your support if you have already signed up for these two important initiatives. We need to have a united voice in order to achieve favourable outcomes.

For those of you not currently signed up, get involved and take action! Simply follow the links and register your support.

2012 saw the launch of the Fair Liability 4 Advice campaign with Zurich and APFA, and we have been pressing the FCA to make good on the commitment it gave to Parliament to consider reviewing the case for a longstop in 2014/15.

Alongside the work we have been doing, an e-petition has been launched asking the Government for 'Fair Liability for Financial Advice' on the Government's dedicated e-petition website. This is with the aim of obtaining 10,000 signatures in six months which should ensure the petition is submitted directly to the Government's Petitions Committee.

The implementation of the Retail Distribution Review presents the financial planning profession with a real opportunity to change consumer perceptions and build both awareness and trust in the profession as a whole.

It has been an incredible achievement for an entire market to move to a higher standard in a relatively short space of time and, importantly, this achievement, coupled with a significant regulatory and market development, presents us with a tangible opportunity to establish recognition and improve confidence.

Whilst the vast majority of individual clients trust their adviser to act in their best interests, the same clients generally have little trust in other advisers or the profession in general. Consumer research provides evidence that retail financial services are viewed with suspicion and a lack of trust, which is something we need to change. The potential benefits are:

• Better engagement with the regulator - a change in behaviour will help influence the FCA.
• Potential regulatory recognition, which could lead to a less intrusive supervisory oversight.
• Greater recognition and referrals from other professions and consumer bodies.
• More graduates and new entrants attracted to the profession.
• Professional image, which will secure higher consumer confidence and trust.


For more information and to register your support, click here

Business Development, Regulation, Paraplanning