Restricted advice

Chris Smallwood, the chief executive of Openwork-owned national IFA 2plan, has called on the regulator to crack down on what he said were 'misleading' terms used by some restricted advice firms to describe their services.

Financial advisers operating in Europe are less strictly regulated than their UK counterparts yet consumers are still afforded the same degree of protection, according to Zurich Life government affairs principal Matt Connell.

There exists a "nervousness" in the professional indemnity insurance (PII) market which could force more IFAs to offer restricted advice, according to Prudential distribution change director Russell Warwick.

INDEPENDENT?

Investors view the whole of the financial services industry through the prism of banks' behaviour, meaning trade bodies must do more to talk up the good the profession does, according to ex-Morningstar OBSR managing director Richard Romer-Lee.

Appointed representatives of Sesame have said the network is refusing to tell them whether rumours that it is going to go completely restricted are true.

There is a common misconception that financial advice is reserved for later life, but younger people could be missing a trick by delaying.

Restricted national advice firm Sandringham Financial Partners has received more than 100 applications from advisers to join the firm since its launch.

Sesame Bankhall Group (SBG) has added several group protection products to its restricted advice proposition.

Mid-market independent financial advisers could start to disappear in as little as three years' time as regulatory changes and market pressures start to bite, according to a senior figure at Openwork.