Stop Insurance Company Golf Days

Stop Insurance Company Golf Days.

The “oldest swingers in town" tend to be financial advisers having a "jolly" as guests of insurance, pension and investment companies.

The financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has this week again issued a warning about inducements and other incentives or payments made to financial advisers.

It is widely accepted that providing training and educational materials to the advice sector is acceptable, companies should be careful about how much they spend on potential inducements and relationship building activities.

The regulator has warned that any such inducements should be designed to improve a client’s service and experience rather than the adviser themselves.

In short, stop organising golf days and trips to Twickenham, Dublin, Cardiff or Murrayfield.

All financial companies are required to keep an "entertainment and training" log to enable the regulator to inspect this at any time. It is understood that many financial companies are not keeping adequate records on this topic.

Comment

We started trading 16 years ago and are fast approaching our 17^th year. The directors of this firm have on a number of occasions been invited to various sporting events but we have never accepted an invitation.

We are not being "high and mighty" here, we simply do not have time to attend "jollies" as we are too busy looking after our clients’ interests rather than getting our three iron out.

We understand in any business sector there is a need to relationship build but when you are dealing with people's life savings and investments we believe it is better to have a clear focus on the best outcome for our client. That said, we would love to have been in Paris watching England play rugby!