Roughly two years after the banning of embedded commissions in the United Kingdom and Australia advisors and consumers have been hit hard, but the final outcome is still unknown and up for some debate, according to a panel at the 2014 Advocis Symposium on Wednesday.
“It’s incredibly hard to say whether RDR [Retail Distribution Review] in the UK has worked or not,” said Rod Bryson, assistant director, corporate strategy – financial services, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) (UK), who spoke as part of the panel. “I think it’s going to be another three to five years before anyone can articulate that.”
Implemented in December 2012, RDR was a set of reforms implemented in the United Kingdom, which included the banning of sales commissions. Panelists at the Toronto event discussed how the elimination of such commissions has had on the financial services industry in Australia and the UK.
While not perfect, Bryson believes RDR has led to some positive changes within the industry in the UK. “If you’re an advisor with an entrepreneurial spirit,” he said, “this is a great time.” According to Bryson, advisors and firms with clearly defined services that add value will always be able to find people willing to pay.
Fellow panelist, Ian Trevers, head of distribution UK retail, Invesco Perpetual, also views these reforms as a chance to improve. “The good firms are seeing the opportunities,” said Trevers. “They’re taking the chance to develop personally, to develop professionally.”
On the other hand, Garry Heath, former director general of the IFA Association (UK) sees the implementation of RDR as being largely negative. According to a report released by Heath in August, the number of independent and bank channel financial advisors has dropped by roughly 11,000 since the introduction of RDR.
Said Heath: “We are in a place you don’t want to be.”
Furthermore, with so many advisors leaving the business more consumers are without financial advice. Since the introduction of RDR the number of individuals working with a financial advisor has dropped from 23 million to 13 million, according to Heath.
In Australia, the implementation of the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) reforms in July 2012, which included banning commissions, also lead to a disruption in access to advice. “When you disrupt the economics business of providing financial advice,” said Anthony James, partner, management consulting, PwC (Australia), “you play a very dangerous game.”
For example, according to James, the banning of commissions has led to a bigger push towards in-house products by the banks. Furthermore, clients who can’t afford an advisor’s fees are likely to leave the advice channel altogether, said James, and instead will move to more technology-based platforms, such as so-called “robo-advisors.”
However, James said that unlike in the UK, Australia has not seen a large decline in the advisor population.