The Chairman of compliance and support services group SimplyBiz says that the recent Budget and the FAMR Final Report have left him “…more optimistic about the future of advice than at any point in the past 20 to 30 years.”
Ken Davy made the comments during a recent web-conference hosted by SimplyBiz. The online conference also included Dominic Grinstead, Managing Director of MetLife UK, and Alistair McQueen, Aviva’s Senior Pension Policy Manager.
Davy particularly welcomed the fact that FAMR had created wide-scale opportunities in the corporate market. He said: “The employers’ £500 contribution to pensions advice is an ‘Aladdin’s cave’ of workplace opportunities for advisers.” McQueen added: “Employers have played their part in auto enrolment, advisers too can now step up.”
However, Davy was disappointed that most of FAMR was concerned with longer term considerations, but hoped that more would be done to improve access to advice for consumers in the short term. But, he was pleased that the high quality of professional financial advice had been recognised in the report.
As for the budget, Davy said it was “a dream budget for savers, strivers and entrepreneurs.” He went on to add that this Budget has “dramatically increased demand for advice” creating a wealth of opportunities for this industry.
The SimplyBiz Group provides support services to over 2500 financial services firms and 6000 individual advisers nationwide.
