Targeted support could boost the number of savers and investors seeking regulated financial advice, reckons Plymouth Financial Planner Continuum.
It said advisers who engage with Targeted Support by offering lighter-touch services could gain a pipeline of future full advice clients.
It said Targeted Support could help non-advised clients warm up to the idea of paying for advice, by giving them a better understanding of the value it could bring.
Two months on since the launch of the FCA’s Targeted Support regime, there has been very little take up. According to research from trade body PIMFA almost two thirds, 63%, of advisers have no plans to engage with Targeted Support with 45% having no intention of offering any form of simplified advice services.
Martin Brown, managing partner at Continuum, said firms could benefit from the new regime, rather than feeling threatened by it.
He said: “It could help the industry find new ways to reach many people who currently fall through the advice gap, as an avenue for those who either do not require or are not ready for full Financial Planning. “
He said that while we some providers are looking at Targeted Support as an opportunity to just sell products, “most providers we have seen looking to embrace it have got the message that it is about helping their clients with making simple decisions.”
He said providers are not in the place to be helping clients with complex needs, “that remains the sole proviso of independent financial advisers. Targeted Support should act as a bridge towards receiving full financial advice, rather than competing with it.”
Wealth manager and Financial Planner Quilter was one of the first to sign up for the new regime just days after it was launched by the regulator in April.