Pensions - Articles - New Treasury advice definition falls into line with MiFID II

 Steven Cameron, Pensions Director at Aegon said: “We welcome the Treasury’s announcement that in future, firms will be giving regulated advice and be subject to the associated higher FCA requirements only where they are providing a personal recommendation. This brings the definition in line with MiFID II and is a key step in advancing the aims of the Financial Advice Market Review. We hope Treasury, FCA and the Financial Advice Working Group will now renew their focus on delivering the remainder of the 24 recommendations to help plug the advice gap.

 “Regulated advice will remain the most valuable offering for many customers. However, some intermediaries and advisory firms may wish to innovate to offer more detailed and tailored guidance services alongside a regulated advice offering. This may appeal to different customer segments and allow the benefits of adviser firms’ expertise to be made more widely available.

 “The Treasury decision also paves the way for the FCA to advance its work on clarifying what regulated firms can be offered under the ‘guidance’ banner. We also await insights into proposals from the Financial Advice Working Group on new labels for ‘advice’ and ‘guidance’ that will make it easier for customers to differentiate between these.

 “Some may be disappointed that the new definition won’t come into effect until MiFID II is implemented in January 2018 but in the meantime, further work from FCA and the Working Group will enable intermediaries to begin designing future offerings.”