AEGON believes today's publication of the report, A Shared Approach to Adviser and Consultancy Charging, will provide important support for advisers in their preparations for RDR.
AEGON and four other providers took part in the project, which was facilitated by Deloitte. It was initiated to identify where it would be in the interests of advisers, their customers and providers to agree some common processes and approaches to adviser and consultancy charging facilitation. Today's publication proposes some common processes, charging structures and terminology which should provide support to advisers as we approach the ‘go live' date at end 2012.
AEGON was a strong advocate for this project believing that advisers' lives would be made particularly complex from January 2013 if all providers took unnecessarily different approaches to facilitating adviser and consultancy charging.
AEGON hopes that advisers will welcome the insight the report gives into the sorts of charging shapes they could agree with clients with some comfort that most providers would be able to facilitate these. The company believes the report is a real step towards identifying common ground and a useful tool for ongoing RDR preparations. AEGON recognises that this publication will not be the final word on the subject as how advisers and providers work together to successfully deliver the RDR will continue to evolve but the company sees it as a valuable contribution to that process.
Steven Cameron, Head of Regulatory Strategy, at AEGON said:
"We feared there could be chaos in early 2013 if advisers were to agree certain charging structures with clients, only to find the provider they then recommend wasn't offering that particular option. The opportunity to contribute to a cross-provider initiative to identify where it would be to the benefit of advisers, clients and providers to develop some common processes was something we couldn't pass up. The involvement of Sesame Bankhall Group in this project was particularly helpful in further clarifying adviser needs.
"We also saw real merit in helping move forward with some common terminology and producing one of the first concrete deliverables to support advisers in their preparations for RDR.
"AEGON believes that the RDR presents a major opportunity for the industry to do the right thing for customers at a critical time. AEGON announced its plans for adviser charging earlier this week and we're well advanced in our implementation plans. Throughout we've worked closely with advisers to explore what structures will be needed to support future advice models. This is vital - providers won't be "RDR ready" unless we deliver what advisers and their clients need."
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