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UK’s RDR has failed to bring advice to the masses

The Retail Distribution Review (RDR) regulations, which banned commission and introduced a fee-based model for advisers, has failed to improve the accessibility of financial advice, according to industry stalwart Peter Mann.

UK's RDR has failed to bring advice to the masses

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The former Skandia platform boss, now a non-executive director at Momentum Global Investment Management, said the financial planning sector needs to come up with regulation that works for everyone.

At a recent Momentum roundtable, Mann said the current fee structure for advice remains inaccessible for a sizeable portion of the UK population.

“We need an RDR which is relevant to normal people, not just the wealthy,” said.

Launched in 2013, RDR was intended to to improve transparency of charges and services and make the retail investment market work better for customers.  

More recently, the regulator’s Financial Advice Market Review is aiming to ensure that more savers can access high-quality advice.

According to Momentum’s latest UK Household Financial Wellness report, which looks across seven different areas to assess Brits’ confidence in their financial security, one third of adults in the UK admitted they would have found it difficult to pay for an unexpected major expense last year.

Two fifths of the 2,200 individuals surveyed from around the UK admitted they had to make certain cutbacks over the period “to make ends meet” and 24% said they had less than £100 in their savings account.

Year-on-year respondents felt more capable of achieving their long-term financial planning goals (by 0.2 index points), but the data still reinforces that regulation in the planning sector has failed to make advice more accessible, said Mann.

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