Developing a financial services planning profession in the UK: An examination of past and present developments

John Gaskell and john k. Ashton ()

Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance, 2008, vol. 2, issue 2, pages 159-172

Abstract: Purpose – Against the backdrop of the Financial Services Authority's Retail Distribution Review, this study aims to present an assessment of the potential development of a UK personal financial advising profession. The development of a profession dedicated to providing financial advice is critically discussed by assessing a range of regulatory and industry views. Design/methodology/approach – The study indicates both a critical literature review and survey of retail financial services planning advisors. The critical literature review considers the market failures which surround the provision of financial planning advice in the UK. A survey of professionally qualified personal financial planning advisers ascertains perceptions of developments to the current regulatory framework to accommodate a more professionally based system of financial advice. Findings – It is reported that a conflict between the current regulatory system and the traditional liberal model of the professions exist. This conflict inhibits the development of a financial services advising profession. Survey evidence collected from professionally qualified financial planning advisors bears out this perspective. Research limitations/implications – Two key research implications emerge from this study. First, the development of a professional model of financial planning advising appears to be inhibited by the current regulatory system. Secondly, current regulation of financial services sales through a market mechanism appears to limit access to financial planning advice. Practical implications – The study raises two key practical implications. First, the current system of regulating financial sales, appears to exclude a substantial segment of the population from access to professional financial planning services. Secondly, the development of a profession and increasing professional behaviour in retail financial services sales conflicts with the current model of regulation. Originality/value – This research paper both reviews the wider arguments surrounding the regulation of retail financial services sales and forwards new evidence as to the attitudes of professionally qualified financial advisors towards regulatory change. This has importance in clarifying a number of the key policy concerns in the regulation of financial services sales.

Keywords: Financial services planning; Regulation; United Kingdom (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentI ... le&contentId=1724245 (text/html)
Cannot be freely downloaded

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:jfrcpp:v:16:y:2008:i:2:p:159-172

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
Emerald Group Publishing, Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley, BD16 1WA, UK
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/jfrc.htm

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance is edited by Professor Kevin Keasey

More articles in Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance from Emerald Group Publishing
Series data maintained by Rebecca Forster ().