Professional Standards
In the FSA paper, professionalism is highlighted as an area where there is broad industry consensus with CII or diploma being the baseline qualification for an advisor. There are, however, a number of other factors that need to be considered:
- There should be no grandfathering rights for practising advisors
- We would support the professional bodies in developing new routes and more practically based alternatives to gaining appropriate qualifications, providing these do not in any way degrade the level of the qualification.
- Professional bodies should establish a board to regulate the level and basis of different qualifications to ensure a consistent industry standard is maintained.
- All qualifications should require an ongoing level of continual professional development to be undertaken by the advisor to maintain their status.
- Ethics are as important as qualifications in establishing the industry baseline for professionalism.
- A 'Professional Standards Board' should be established by the FSA to provide direct regulation of industry professional standards.
- Membership of professional bodies should not be compulsory although professional bodies should have delegated responsibilities from the Professional Standards Board to regulate the conduct of their members.
There are a number of areas which require a more detailed response from the FSA. In particular:
- The future status of 'tied advice'.
- Timescales for acquiring higher professional qualifications
- The definition of 'independence' - will this change?
- A better understanding of the FSA's requirements around CAR - particularly concerning legacy products and required range of remuneration models providers will be expected to facilitate.
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