Following our story in April this year regarding Barclays staff training to become Independent Financial Advisers - in just four weeks - 143 are now apparently qualified.
Barclays announced that 143 staff that only previously advised on Barclays products were now fully trained to give independent financial advice. Barclays said that staff were trained so that their business clients could be advised on their personal finances. Apparently, some staff took longer but others took less than 4 weeks training.
Our View
At the time the announcement was made we were exceptionally concerned that four weeks to learn the skills that IFA's take years to acquire could cause problems. We are still of this opinion.
The Association of IFAs also voiced their concerns at the time saying that four weeks was just not enough time to learn the necessary skills to give independent financial advice.
Commercial clients can have exceptionally complex personal affairs, as their business tends to be an extension of their personal life. By not having sufficient experience and training, clients could be missing out on specialised and tailored advice.
However, when the industry regulator, the Financial Services Authority were questioned over the training period, they commented that decisions on training timescales should be set by individual firms and were not prescribed by them.