The watering down of the polarisation rules will restrict and eventually cut out independent advice in the financial services market, according to IFA Promotions.
IFAP says consumers have benefited from the clarity under existing rules where companies are obliged to disclose if they are independent, but fears the new proposals will mark a return to the “bad old days” when consumers could not be sure if the advice they received was genuinely independent.
IFAP marketing director David Elms says: “The changes are the thin end of the wedge as they destroy the clarity in the market and increase consumer confusion. These polarisation proposals are an attempt to abolish independent advice through the back door.”
