“Someone was talking to me about how the consumer duty has actually freed up space a little bit and how they are more targeted in their market now,” Hulme said.
“As a result, they're starting to think about where are the next growth opportunities, and one of the things was not waiting for the advice guidance boundary review, but just to start thinking through ‘where is the boundary? What can I do?’.
“That was a small firm with three or four employees. I don't think it has to be the preserve of a particular type of firm with all these new options of advice, but I just make that point about the continuum of support."
He added: “Surely, having people have a greater number of options must be good for clients, must be good for the advice gap, must be good for opportunities and for business revenue?"
Hulme said the FCA would release a consultation paper on pension-specific simplified advice by the end of the year, and a consultation paper looking at retail investments by spring.
“We can't solve it all. We can do our bit by pushing ahead with the Treasury but it's also the point about getting businesses to think differently. It's good to be different when solving this problem.”
Polluter pays
Last week (October 11), Hulme spoke at the Consumer Duty Alliance's first financial planning conference, where he revealed that the FCA would publish a policy statement on its 'polluter pays' proposals before the end of the year.
In November 2023, the regulator announced a consultation, which set out that personal investment firms would need to set aside capital so they could cover compensation costs for bad advice.
The proposals aimed to ensure that the polluter pays for the redress costs they generate.
Hulme said the FCA wanted to make sure firms and their appointed representatives which created liabilities were better able to pay them, so there would be more capital to go into FSCS recovery should a firm fail.
Hulme added that the regulator and advice firms had the same goals, so he wanted to work more collaboratively across a number of its initiatives - including the advice guidance boundary, the polluter pays model and retirement income and ongoing advice.
amy.austin@ft.com
