FCA senior executive Kate Tuckley has told the Personal Finance Society annual conference today that the FCA's new 'targeted support' plans are no threat to professional and personalised holistic Financial Planning.

Mr Tuckley told an audience of nearly more than 800 at the PFS National Conference in London that targeted support would be a "win-win" for consumers and the profession.

She said the FCA expected that many consumers would eventually use targeted support as a stepping stone to full Financial Planning advice and the profession would benefit as a result from additional clients

Ms Tuckley said the FCA proposals were not designed to hinder those who, "can afford bespoke and personalised financial advice" and full Financial Planning advice should continue to thrive. She said the FCA recognised the benefits of Financial Planning.

She added that targeted support, which will allow regulated firms to provide guidance to groups of consumers at lower cost or for free, was intended to make sure that millions more consumers would be able to get some valuable support with their financial decision making.

She said:"Our proposals are a key part in expanding the support for consumers."

Ms Tuckley also burst some myths about the FCA. She said it was pro small firms and not anti them and said it was pro the growth agenda set out by the Chancellor Rachel Reeves. She also said the FCA was not about holding down prices for financial services and higher prices for services which justified an extra cost were acceptable to the regulator.

She said: "We are a champion of the growth agenda."

Ms Tuckley said the FCA had also made strenuous efforts in the past year to cut red tape for 20,000 regulated firms by reducing the number and frequency of required returns and planned to do more to cut back on regulatory admin for advisory firms.

Turning to consolidators, she said the FCA accepted that consolidation could be a good thing for the sector, for example helping a retiring adviser to hand on their clients to another firm, but she said a recent FCA review had highlighted some risks, particularly when consolidation was rapid and parent companies failed to grow their compliance to deal with a larger volume of business.

She urged all adviser firms, large and small, to check out the FCA's guidance on selling a client bank to ensure good practice was followed.

The PFS Conference is the biggest annual gathering of Financial Planners in the UK and is under way today at London's Excel centre in Docklands.

More than 2,000 people have signed up to attend the one day event which includes over 25 sessions from leading industry speakers. Speakers include leading Financial Planners and and industry experts as well as guest appearances by the England Lionesses, footballing stars Lucy Bronze and Beth Mead.

The event is taking place at the new ICC Maritime Suite at Excel London. 

This year’s theme is ‘Mind the Gap’ and conference sessions will focus on bridging key industry gaps such as the advice gap, innovation gap, generations gap and talent gap. The event has been looking in particular at the impact of the advice guidance boundary review set to shake up the advice sector.