08 Dec Bank Advisers Lagging Behind in Attaining RDR Qualification

A number of financial advisers in the banking and building society sectors, in addition to other financial advisers who are part of networks or act as tied advisers, have been lagging behind in their efforts to become qualified for the upcoming retail distribution review (RDR). The research, which was commissioned by the FSA and completed by RS Consulting, also showed that qualifications for the RDR were on track despite this, with 50% of IFAs already holding one of the required qualifications whilst an additional 39% were studying for one at time of survey. The research said "In other words, 93% of all advisers were qualified or had plans to become so: 91% were already qualified or expected to qualify by December 2012, while 2% did not know by when they will complete their qualifications, and a fraction of 1% expected to complete after December 2012. "Advisers in firm types that comprise mainly larger firms – banks and building societies and tied appointed representatives were lagging somewhat behind other firm types in their progress towards qualification. "Significantly fewer held an appropriate qualification: 36% in banks and building societies and 29% in tied appointed representatives, compared with 50% of all advisers."