As part of FTAdviser's Promote Your Profession campaign, we have created a template letter for you to use and send to your constituency MP.
The letter template calls on the MP to address the issues of disproportionate fees and levies, a regulatory system that does not support entrepreneurial advisers and their clients, and the need for better financial education.
You can adapt the letter as you see fit, or you can also follow the generic MP letter outline provided from the PFS.
Here is the one which FTAdviser has created specifically for the Promote Your Profession campaign, which you are free to share:
Dear [Constituency MP]
Re: Need for a better regulatory system for UK financial services
As the owner/principal/director of a business providing financial advice to hundreds of your constituents, of which I am also one, I am writing to ask if you would raise this matter urgently with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, HM Treasury and the Business Secretary.
I have run a well-established Independent Financial Advice (IFA) firm for many years and there seem to be two main issues that keep returning to affect our profession and our ability to help more people in Britain improve their finances, as the study in the link indicates.
These main issues are rising regulatory costs and the burden of regulation in the UK. These can be overcome by fairer fee structures for the profession, more tailored and flexible regulation, and more qualified advisers to be employed by regulatory bodies such as the FCA - points I would be grateful if you would raise to the Treasury.
The first issue
The recent increase in FCA / FSCS levy / FOS costs have been making it very difficult to budget each year and properly consider future planning.
In the last 12 months the Regulator fees have increased from £XXXXX to £XXXX – this is an increase of XX per cent in just one year.
This causes X and prevents us from growing our business, supporting our ever-rising client base, or encouraging new and diverse candidates to join the profession.
To have increased fees at the high rates mentioned, without explanation, is baffling. We are working harder than ever to support clients through a cost of living crisis, so how can such hikes be justified?
Moreover, why should good players be penalised for the actions of bad apples? The medical profession does not have to shell out to pay fines on behalf of rogue actors. Why should it be so for financial services professionals? We urge you to look into this on our behalf.
The second issue
While we broadly welcome Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Edinburgh Reforms, it appears while the government appears to be broadly deregulatory, bodies such as the Financial Conduct Authority have not got the memo. While we are tied up in red tape it is harder to recruit, train and retain quality staff to the highest professional standards that financial advisers strive to achieve.
Regulation - largely pre-dating Brexit - has made it harder for professionals to obtain regulatory approval for small, new businesses. And yet, as the government is aware, there is a desperate need for financial professionals, especially since the Pension Freedoms of 2015 exacerbated the advice gap and made it more complicated for ordinary Britons to take control of their pensions planning.
