The Select Committee was as upset about the fact the FSA responded so quickly as it was to the fact that it disagreed with its proposal for a 12-month delay.
A Select Committee report said: “The FSA made its initial reply to our report by means of an embargoed response rejecting the idea of a one-year delay before our report had even been published.
“It gave the impression that no adequate consideration had been given to the arguments for the delay we recommended."
The Select Committee comments make it sound like this is the first time anyone has suggested a delay to RDR when this could not be further from the truth. The review was started in 2006 and the closer its start date gets the noisier the calls for a delay will be but it seems like a great many of the hurdles talked about in the past 12 months have been, or will soon be, cleared:
- Intermediaries not having enough time to get the qualifications needed is one – the FSA has found that 91%of financial advisers expect to have the new higher qualifications by the end of 2012;
- The stringent requirements will lead to huge numbers of intermediaries leaving the industry – a year ago, as many as 30% of intermediaries were going to leave, whereas now a number as low as 10% seems more likely.
Another positive for investors is that asset management groups are working on cleaner, more transparent products. At one end of the market cap spectrum, Schroders at one end of the market cap spectrum is talking about a new fund range with an annual management charge of 0.75%; Rathbones at the other end of the spectrum is talking about doing exactly the same.
All of this can only be good for investors so can please put this to bed once and for all? RDR will not be delayed!
