The eagerly anticipated "Platform" paper was published by the FSA on Wednesday 27 June and Andy Bell, chief executive of Sippcentre parent company AJ Bell has given his views in a new video interview.
Mr Bell says that the paper was broadly as had been expected. The FSA confirmed a ban on payments from product providers to all platforms and also confirmed that cash rebates to clients on advised sales of retail products would not be allowed regardless of whether the product was sold through a platform.

To the consternation of many in the platform industry the FSA also confirmed that unit rebates would be permitted, says Mr Bell.



The FSA also announced that it was not quite finished with consultations in the platform world. A formal consultation was announced on whether the cash rebate ban should apply across to the non-advised market, with the FSA's starting point being that it should. The FSA has also asked, without going so far as to announce a consultation, for industry views on whether all of these rules should be applied to adjacent markets such as Sipp operators, discretionary fund managers, execution only brokers and Isa managers.

In the video (see link below), Andy Bell, chief executive of A J Bell, answers questions on some of the more controversial aspects of the platform paper.

He explains why he thinks some advisers will be insulted when they hear the FSA's reasons for banning payments to platforms and also talks about some of the practical problems advisers will face when cash rebates are banned. Mr Bell also calls for a level playing field between platforms and adjacent markets and covers why he believes the outcome of the consultation is unlikely to be positive for the consumer.

A detailed summary of Andy Bell's views on the consultation paper can be found here http://www.sippcentre.co.uk/Resources/Content/PDF/SPC_NewsViews_special_1.pdf