PFS helps advisers lend voice to lobbying

The Personal Finance Society has offered a potential solution that would deliver a sustainable and fairer financial education and compensation strategy, improve consumer confidence to engage in their financial wellbeing while reducing the financial uncertainty for advisers created by the FSCS levy and soaring PI premiums.

The Personal Finance Society has produced a template letter (PDF) for financial advisers to send to their local MP.

The template allows financial advisers to make reference to the Personal Finance Society’s solution in a move to raise awareness among more politicians about the problems faced by consumers and the profession alike and how this issue is restricting access to advice for the MP’s constituents.

Keith Richards, chief executive of the Personal Finance Society, said: “This is not a generic communication for a letter writing campaign, which would have little impact and just create more paperwork for MPs.

“We are encouraging financial advisers to tell MPs and other policymakers about what is happening in their community in their own words and giving them the option of referencing the Personal Finance Society’s proposed solution as a starting point for debate in a clear and accurate way.

“I am already engaged in talks with the FCA and HM Treasury about this solution, having first written to Chancellor George Osborne in 2015 to raise awareness of the issue, which resulted in a meeting with then City Minister, Harriett Baldwin. As a result both PII and FSCS was incorporated within the subsequent Financial Advice Market Review (FAMR).

“We hope this template will allow advisers to add their voice to calls for concern’s to be converted into government action.

“Consumers rights under pension freedoms are in jeopardy, access to regulated advice denied, while at the same time the public have become increasingly exposed to the devastating impact of scams.

“There is a need for us all to do something, whether as individuals, companies or associations - it is time for a ‘united’ approach to the issue to force our elected government to take action.”

ENDS

Contacts:

Helen Moore, Communications and Engagement Manager

Helen.Moore@cii.co.uk

+44 (0) 20 7397 1121

Reace Novello, PR Executive

Reace.Novello@cii.co.uk

+44 (0) 78 6732 4170

Notes to Editors:

The Personal Finance Society

The Personal Finance Society’s core objective is to serve the public by guiding the advice profession. It is the leading professional body for financial advisers and those in related support roles. With more than 37,000 individual members, it promotes the highest standards of professionalism by setting the standards for technical knowledge, customer service and ethical practice across the entire financial planning community.

To achieve its aims, the society provides its members to a programme of continuing professional development, relevant qualifications, learning materials, support services and many other practical benefits. Operating under a Royal Charter, its primary objective is to secure and justify public confidence and trust in its membership and the profession more broadly.

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