Changes to the current system of providing financial advice suggested today by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) must widen consumer choice and confidence in financial advice, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). Responding to today’s publication of the FSA’s Consultation Paper, ‘Reforming Polarisation: Making the market work for consumers’, ABI stressed that a key objective of any changes to regulation must be to close Britain’s £27 billon annual savings gap.

Alan Woods, ABI’s Head of Life Insurance and Pensions, said:

“These proposals will be judged by their ability to offer consumers wider and clearer access to financial advice. Trusted financial advice is a crucial part of reducing the UK’s annual savings gap, which currently stands at £27 billion a year. Any changes to the current regime must ensure that consumers have confidence in financial advice, and that insurers can continue to offer innovative products to meet consumers’ ever-changing long-term savings needs.

“The FSA has accepted much of ABI’s argument that wider reform is needed to boost savings and simplify regulation. We will explore whether these proposed changes meet these objectives. We will be studying these proposals carefully, and discussing them with the FSA and consumer groups, before responding fully.”

Notes

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