RDR - Retail Destruction Review - NOT Retail Distribution Review

HOW HAS THE FSA MANAGED TO TURN A BLIND EYE TO WHAT THE WORLD REALLY THINKS ABOUT THE FSA’s RDR?

Is the FSA proud of its creation?

Otto Thoresen - CEO Aegon: "The RDR is only helping wealthy customers"

AXA April 2009:"We will lobby the FSA to make sure the RDR does not mean less are able to access advice"

David Cox - SuuqeaMarch 2009: "Two million clients could be left without an IFA after RDR - 40% could leave the industry"

FSCC January 2009: "Financial advice will be less widely available post RDR"

Institute of Financial Services: "RDR will impair financial advice before improving it"

Alasdair Buchanan Scottish Life November 2009: "Sales advice is a real cop out and extremely confusing to investors"

Stephen Gay – Aviva June 2009: "The regulator has failed to consider the danger of adviser charging limiting access to advice for those on lower incomes"

Lord Lipsey: "Consumers in the middle (not high net worth or money guidance fodder) to be sold products by banks under the contradiction that is sales advice"

Walter Merricks former Chief Ombudsman: "I think it would be unwise to count on the assumption that complaints from the retail investment world are suddenly going to go down as a result (of the RDR)"

Deutsch Bank report August 2009: "There has been industry talk of 30% or even 50% if IFAs exiting the industry post 2012, which is not impossible"

Paul Selly HBOS: "Bancassurers set to benefit"

Richard Howells Director Zurich LifeJune 2009: "The big question mark is still around what benefit it will have for the ultimate consumer. I am still not convinced that all of these changes, when you sit down with a consumer and explain them, actually give rise to a consumer benefit that I can really hang my hat on."

Martin Lewis Money Saving Expert June 2009: "There's a worrying possibility that the FSA is about to kill off independent financial advice in the UK for all but the wealthy. I do hope I'm wrong. I'm not convinced most people will want to pay for advice. The commission route has the advantage that you don't pay a fee each and every time you want information; you can go without the worry of laying out cash. What I find most galling though is that bank-based advisers - those primarily responsible for PPI misselling, endowment mis-selling, investment mis-selling and generally poor advice all round are still to be allowed to be remunerated based on the number of sales."

Janet Walford OBE, Editor Money Management Sept 2009: "I am not paranoid enough to believe that the FSA has a hidden agenda to do away with small IFAs, but the law of unitended consequences may well mean that this will be the result. This is especially the case when set alongside the myriad of other proposals that are costing some £430 million to set up, with ongoing fees of £40 million pa thereafter, a mind boggling amount of cash.

Peter Hamilton barrister, Source: Money Management Oct 2009, Scrapping the FSA by Marie Jennings MBE: "The Financial Services and Markets Act does not permit the FSA to cancel an authorisation simply because the FSA has changed its views on what the appropriate qualifications should be….It is one thing to impose new rules for new entrants to the IFA profession, it is quite another thing to disqualify someone who is already qualified."

David Hazelton of Tax Incentivised Savings Association(TISA) 30/10/09: The RDR could be detrimental to consumers both in terms of higher product charges and an increase in the cost of advice, warns the Tax Incentivised Savings Association(TISA). Implementation costs for the RDR are being "seriously underestimated" and product charges will consequently have to be raised.

Bankhall managing director David Golder 03/11/09: "We say write to the regulator, write to your MP. Do not let the FSA get away with some of the things that will lead to the widespread decimation of our industry."

Robert Kerr, head of retail distribution development at Scottish Widows says: The RDR could have the unintended consequence of "disenfranchising" the majority of consumers from financial advice. "Our key concern is the RDR proposals will act to drive advice upmarket, with financial advice becoming the preserve of the wealthy leaving mass-market consumers un-served,"

Nigel Waterson when Shadow pensions minister : "While no-one can object to raising the standards of training and competence, should an emphasis on exams take precedence over on-the-job training and experience? Is the 2012 implementation date practicable given the extra qualifications and changes in systems that will be required to be in place?

Richard Hobbs Director Lansons Regulatory Consulting 16/07/10: “I have to say, it (RDR) only just survived an executive committee meeting in March 2010 at the FSA. The FSA are not particularly proud of the RDR but it is a question of losing face, so I think they will carry on.”

An email from Simon Mansell