Efforts to improve access to affordable financial advice in the U.K. are well underway, according to a progress report published Tuesday on the recommendations made as part of the Financial Advice Market Review (FAMR).
The FAMR was launched by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the U.K. Treasury in August 2015 in order to come up with ways to enhance access to affordable financial advice, and respond to concerns about the availability of advice in the wake of changes to pension rules, demographic trends, and other factors. The FAMR produced 28 recommendations for the government, regulators and industry intended to help foster a market for more affordable advice.
Read: U.K. report aims to make financial advice work better for consumers
Tuesday’s progress report, published by the FCA, indicates that all of the recommendations are either under consultation, or complete.
At the same time, the FCA also published proposed guidance designed to enable firms to offer forms of “streamlined” advice for certain clients, and to support firms that offer services without making personal investment recommendations, among other things.
Comments on the proposals, which address certain FAMR recommendations, are due May 23.
The FCA also indicates that it intends to publish final rules later this month that will introduce changes to its requirements on advisor charging for firms that are vertically integrated. Those changes aim to clarify the FCA’s expectations for these firms.
The progress report also says that the FCA’s new Advice Unit will soon start working with a cohort of firms that are developing automated advice models. Later this year, the Advice Unit will publish a set of tools and resources for “all firms in the financial advice space” on efforts to automate advice.