It may not be certain what shape of advisory market we will have in a decade. There will surely be more bigger players, though we should hope small businesses hold their own as well.
The latest RMAR figures perhaps show a trend with the number of advice firms with over 50 IFAs rising 17% from 35 to 41 in 2021. There were 4,581 small firms in 2020, the figure fell 4% to 4,396 firms in 2021.
Platform assets continue to fall by billions as global markets experience a difficult year.
Total platform assets fell by 6.62% in the first quarter of this year and advised assets performed only slightly better (-6.08%), according to the Lang Cat’s latest quarterly Platform Market Scorecard.
The Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has warned against politicians overriding regulatory independence with favourite to become PM Liz Truss backing moves that could allow regulatory decisions to be called in by government departments. There is a lot of manoeuvring in political and regulatory circles.
Quilter’s platform expert David Tiller suggests that the consumer duty has raised the bar for platforms by introducing the 'anticipatory element of foreseeable harm'. Expect a lot more discussion as the relevant legislation progresses.
The CII has told an adviser to do an online ethics course after a complaint was made relating to a tweet amid accusations of racism.
I do wonder however whether the biggest economic/political news is the clear divide that, at least for now, has opened up between the two opposition parties and the candidates for PM regarding energy.
Both Lib Dem leader Ed Davey and a little later Labour leader Keir Starmer are proposing to cap energy bills at their current level at the current default plan level of £1971 per year.
Davey’s mechanism is to pay the firms. We still await flesh on the bones for Labour’s ideas. But it makes an interesting challenge to Rishi Sunak and the hot favourite for Tory leader and PM Liz Truss.
Truss’s tax cutting plans suggest that she would have to borrow much more if she decided to match the Oppositoon and stick to her plans to cut taxes.
I think it is a little early to identify what the broad implications are for clients’ finances, any degree of targeting or indeed whether a lower level of help is on hand from a new Conservative PM.
It may also have some repercussions for some listed stocks with talk of nationalisation though none of the parties have suggested it yet. It is certainly likely there will be more strategic direction in terms of energy in future.
One gap for now is that little has been suggested for business especially high energy use businesses.
