The Financial Conduct Authority on Wednesday wrote to the bosses of financial advice firms asking them to review their processes when providing retirement income advice.
The letter from the UK’s financial regulator follows a review of how firms were providing retirement income advice.
The review identified examples of good practice but also examples where firms fell short of best practice, when considering the needs of their customers.
This included where firms operated in a way unlikely to lead to good customer outcomes by not considering a sustainable level of income to support retirement, and some instances of firms not providing the right information to customers.
‘Most of the advice files the FCA reviewed showed advice provided was suitable. However, in a small number of instances recommendations resulted in consumers losing guarantees or incurring unnecessary charges,’ the FCA said in a statement.
Sarah Pritchard, executive director of Markets and International, at the FCA said:? ‘Financial advisers have a vital role in helping consumers to make the right decisions now to support them long into the future.’
‘Some firms are getting this right and making a real difference to their customers. However, others are not even getting the basics right and putting their customers’ futures at risk. We urge all firms to take on board our findings and review their own processes. Where they do not, we will act.’
The FCA has published a retirement income advice assessment tool to show how firms can assess if their advice is compliant.
Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.