The industry regulator, the Financial Services Authority is thought to be looking at introducing further filtered self-help questions. These questions would allegedly give them the same information as they could have received from an adviser. The only problem is, the FSA believe that 10% of the results will produce the wrong product for consumers.
Our View;
The waters are muddied enough at the moment with which type of adviser is available and who does what at the FSA. Introducing self-help questions is fine, but only to tell people what they need to be asking an adviser. If 10% of the results will be wrong then the FSA risk those people complaining against them for the advice they gave (whether or not they actually did), which will cause costs of the industry to rise yet again. A level of 10% complaints is seriously questionable for any adviser - let alone the industry regulator! Quite simply, in our view the FSA should stick to what they were put in place to do. Regulate, increase competition amongst advisers and promote consumer confidence. Introducing self-help, 10% wrong, sort-of advice, will not meet any of these objectives. Realistically, with this much downside, it probably will not be introduced.