“Again, this improves the outcomes for clients.”
Cooke explained that this means that adviser earnings are more geared towards the ongoing fees than before.
“This in turn has driven the behaviours of firms, and advisers, to focus on the service they provide to their clients away from the one-off sales process to building longer term, service based, relationships with clients,” he said.
Where it has failed is the rise of the restricted and vertically-integrated firms and networks, often offering poorer quality products with higher charges, he argued.
“I would include many of the robo services in this as well. In general, they actually offer very little for their charges and often do not deliver outcomes as good as they should be.”
Advice firms needs to do better
With RDR’s 10-year anniversary and the introduction of consumer duty, Ariyawansa said advisers need to think about being even better.
“Chartered should replace Diploma as the standard to advise”, he said.
“The regulator and all authorities should actively promote the value of advice and financial planning over cheap online gimmicks and influencers. Advisers should unite together as a profession (be it restricted or independent) for the betterment of the public.”
Elsewhere, Rafiq described it as “an understatement” to say that RDR has reshaped financial services.
“I recall joining the sector shortly after graduating from university; within two years I was a qualified adviser, with no practical experience, I remember feeling a little embarrassed by telling others what I did for a living,” he said.
Working with a large network, he said although the culture wasn’t exactly the Wolf of Wall Street, “there was a bravado on who generated the most commissions”.
He explained that at that time, some of the life offices were shedding their distribution arms and the networks were picking up advisers for fun.
“Some advisers were old-school door-to-door sales people who later would establish credible firms,” he said.
“RDR was inevitable, mainstream media was rife with stories of poor advice, and events such as endowment mis-selling.
“I recall that during the dotcom bubble, the phone lines were suddenly very busy and some advisers struggled to explain why their clients had experienced a fall in their investment valuations, underlining a lack of understanding.”
