RDR transformation now needs much wider promotion

'Low consumer awareness'

Buried within a hefty 80-page document, 28 recommendations, calls to action, and the launch of further consultations, one line from the recent Financial Advice Market Review (FAMR) may have been overlooked: "there is also evidence of relatively low consumer awareness of the changes introduced by the RDR".

In fact, according to an FCA survey, the seismic changes introduced three years ago for the advice community have made almost no difference to the man-on-the-street's perception of advisers. For example, the number of respondents who disagreed that financial advisers made recommendations based on the best interests of their clients has remained broadly stable, at a sizeable 34% in 2010 compared to 36% in 2014. FAMR: Call for change to 'regulated advice' definition This is despite the aims of the RDR being ultimately "to change fundamentally the way investment products were distribu...