As a network, we want to help underpin that ambition and as such it is about finding advisers who share this strategic outlook.
FTA: In recent years the debate seems to have shifted away from independent versus restricted advice and towards financial planning versus advice. Why is that?
SG: Our experience is that clients do not necessarily mind if an adviser is restricted or independent. What they do care about is the service provided and the outcomes that are achieved.
This is where holistic financial planning has come into things as the industry has moved away from being led by product.
Tax and estate planning has become a crucial part of the planning process and thus advice firms are looking to offer more than just the traditional investment advice and wrapper.
Financial planning has become much more akin to life planning, and this is likely to continue as a trend as people require advice at different points in their life.
We see it now with younger generations requiring much more transactional advice as they hit major points in their lives. As their finances become more complex, then the planning element will become much more visible in their engagements with an adviser.
FTA: Quilter, alongside SJP, was one of the first firms to recognise the need for adviser academies. What made you launch yours?
SG: One of the consequences of the implementation of RDR was that the number of advisers dropped dramatically. While the changes were largely very good for the industry, the Financial Services Authority estimated that the number of advisers dropped by as much as 20 per cent in the first year after the rules were brought in.
Since then, it has been imperative that adviser academies, such as the Quilter Financial Adviser School, help to boost the number of talented new financial advisers joining the industry and bridge the advice gap.
With training and development of existing advisers established following the introduction of the RDR, it made sense for larger firms, ourselves included, to launch adviser academies and help bring through that next wave of talent.
It is crucial that as advisers leave the industry, either via retirement or to do something else, we have a pipeline for the future and ensure that clients continue to receive the quality, professional financial advice they have come to expect.
FTA: We're about to see the launch of the consumer duty, but unlike the RDR, this is not focused on advisers only. What does the advice market need to take it to the next level?
SG: The consumer duty is one of the most important pieces of regulation since the RDR and will touch upon every aspect of an adviser’s business.
