There have been two cohorts of firms who have participated in the Advice Unit so far.
Ten firms were accepted in Summer 2016:
evestor, FinEx Capital Management, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Money Guidance, Mortimer Mackenzie Ltd, National Westminster Bank Plc, Nationwide Building Society, True Potential Investments, Santander
The second group of seven firms joined in early 2017:
1825 (part of the Standard Life group), Direct Life & Pension Services Limited, Investec Click & Invest, Moneyfarm, Multiply.ai, Personal Touch Financial Services Limited, WealthKernel
Changes in the Advice Unit
The FCA also announced today the expansion of the scope of the Advice Unit so it will now take in firms developing automated advice models within the mortgage, general insurance and debt advice sectors.
The Advice Unit will also now accept firms that want to provide guidance instead of regulated advice as well as firms not intending to seek authorisation.
The application process is also changing so that the Advice Unit will now be accepting applications from firms throughout the year, rather than on a cohort basis.
FAMR Baseline Report
The FCA has also today published the FAMR Baseline Report.
The Baseline Report has identified three main themes to measure the development of the market. They are accessibility, affordability and quality of advice. These will be tracked on an annual basis and results will be published on the FCA website. The baseline findings will be used as a benchmark to assess the outcomes of FAMR when conducting the review in 2019.
The FCA has also confirmed that the Post-Implementation Review of the Retail Distribution Review, scheduled for 2017, will now be combined with the 2019 FAMR review. This will allow the market time to react to the regulatory change from both FAMR and MiFID II and also allow the FCA to make best use of its resources and minimise the reporting burden on firms.
Christopher Woolard, Executive Director of Strategy and Competition at the FCA, said: “The Advice Unit’s initial work, including the support it has provided to firms, has shown its potential and the changes announced today present a further opportunity to widen consumer access to financial advice and guidance across a broader range of sectors.
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