What is the RDR?
The FSA launched their Retail Distribution Review in June 2006
to address many of the persistent problems they had observed in the
retail investment market. In their consultation paper CP09/18 the FSA
cited insufficient consumer trust and confidence in the products
and services supplied by the market. The RDR set out three main
aims:
- to increase the professional standards of investment
advisers
- to improve the clarity with which firms describe their services
to consumers
- to address the potential for adviser remuneration to distort
customer outcomes
In December 2009 the FSA published a further consultation paper
CP09/31
entitled Delivering the Retail Distribution Review. This
paper sets out how the FSA plan to raise standards of
professionalism in the retail investment market. The paper confirms
the FSA’s proposal to raise the level of benchmark qualification
retail advisers are required to obtain from the present OfQual
Level 3 to a minimum OfQual Level 4.
As a result, many in the sector have to top-up existing
qualifications and BPP has all the pieces you need to make
sure you are fully RDR compliant.