This, I guess, is a sign that the regulation of our business is to expand still further. And that so is its cost, paid for by us (as advisers) and so ultimately you as clients. The FCA, as rehearsed many times on these pages, is only part of that cost. There’s the Financial Services Compensation Scheme which has nine directors, the highest paid of whom earns £640k; and the Financial Ombudsman Service (eight, total pay £1.5m). Yes, it’s sad that we need them, a reflection of the number of bad eggs in the business etc. But despite 30 years of this, nothing much seems to have changed, apart from the size and number of NGOs involved. So, time for a reset? Dream on.
“Timeline boss bullish about resilience of small and medium IFAs”
How we as advisers charge for our services has been the subject of navel-gazing debate in our profession for some time. Should we work on accountant- and solicitor-style hourly rates, charge a fixed subscription or have a menu of tasks and bill you accordingly.
