Of course, it is not just some funeral plan providers that are villains of the piece. There are rogues out there in the estate planning space too: companies that have been offering trust fund services, will writing and inheritance tax planning services – as well as funeral plans.
Events at Philips Trust Corporation – like Safe Hands, it has just gone into administration – demonstrate that overseers of trust funds also need to be watched over by the FCA.
I am not a fan of behemoths, but it is blindingly obvious that the financial services industry requires one overseeing regulator. Bits of it cannot be allowed to do their own thing under the guise of powder puff self-regulation.
Maybe the FCA in its current form is not the answer. Maybe it needs to be remoulded, dynamite put up its proverbial backside. But we need one lean, mean, switched-on regulator working across the entire financial services landscape, holding companies to account. It is the least that the public deserves.
Jeff Prestridge is personal finance and wealth editor of the Mail on Sunday
