For Immediate Release: Wednesday 26 September 2001

TRADE ASSOCIATIONS URGE SANDLER REVIEW TO

RECOGNISE THE IMPORTANCE OF FINANCIAL ADVICE

In a joint letter to Ron Sandler, leading financial trade associations are urging that the Review of the UK financial retail market  recognises the important role played by financial advice in encouraging people to save more for the long-term.

The letter from the Directors General of the Association of British Insurers, Association of Unit Trusts and Investment Funds, Association of Private Client Investment Managers & Stockbrokers, Association of Investment Trust Companies and Association of Independent Financial Advisers points out that “…the availability of financial advice will be crucial in delivering the increase in the take-up of financial products by UK consumers that the Government is seeking”.

The Directors General point out that consumers want and value face-to-face advice about investment decisions and warn that “any focus in isolation on capping charges … or on standardising products still further, then there would be a real danger that essential quality advice could become increasingly expensive and therefore a service available only to a minority.”

The letter stresses that “the regulatory burden placed on those who give advice should not become so onerous that it ceases to be feasible to offer it”