“Globally I have seen people operating unregulated and there’s very little recourse for clients that have been missold.”
Therefore, Ritchie emphasised the importance for regulated international firms to highlight they have the correct procedures, qualifications and the accredited staff in place so UK firms feel comfortable building a relationship with them.
Ritchie said he would like to get to a place where the standard of advice is the same wherever the client is and that due diligence is applied by firms on both sides to ensure a high standard of advice is provided to clients.
He said: “The Middle East is still quite a bit behind if we look at the majority of firms which operate there, but I would like to get to a place where people can see the standard of advice you get doesn’t matter where you are in the world, you can get good advice in any jurisdiction.”
Professional bodies can help build relationship
In terms of how UK and international based firms can begin to form a relationship, Ritchie said professional bodies could help to forge those ties.
“It would be good to see professional bodies create a tie-up between firms, for example a CISI accredited UK firm could go on the website and see international accredited CISI firms they could work with and the same for the PFS and CII,” he added.
Ritchie also said a directory could be the way forward, where advisers can look up international firms that meet their criteria and they can get in contact with.
He said: “If we want to do the best possible job for our clients then we need to be able to look after them or have a network that allows us to look after them, this is where we need to get to.”
alina.khan@ft.com
