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Fears an independent professional standards board (IPSB) would represent another tier of regulation are misplaced, the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) says.
The Institute says concerns over what it calls "regulatory duplication" will be resolved by the IPSB having an "unambiguous demarcation" of its role as opposed to the FSA or FOS, as well as a "clear statutory role".
"There has been some confusion about whether an IPSB would be another professional body," it states. "As envisaged, it would have a very specific role sitting above, rather than duplicating, the functions of what existing professional bodies do."
Dual regulation was one of three 'myths' the CII today moved to dispel ahead of the introduction of an IPSB, one of the RDR's central tenets.
Another - that the board would incur annual costs upward of £40m - has been potentially overstated to the tune of more than £38m, it concludes, adding the long-term savings in regulation of paying for an IPSB "could be huge".
The CII compares the annual outlay of organisations similar to the IPSB, calculating the Legal Services Board has a yearly budget of £4.3m and the Professional Oversight Board of the Financial Reporting Council an operating budget of just £1.5m.
"The IPSB should be a ‘standards' board and focus on oversight," it says. "As long as the role of the IPSB is limited to that of oversight, we believe the budget will be a fraction of this [£40m]."
Elsewhere, the CII says the existence of an IPSB would not only help improve consumer clarity and increase savings, but also raise advisers' job satisfaction as consumer trust in the industry soars.
Pointing to FSCP research (Jan 2008) suggesting consumers see all advisers as "salesmen who are ultimately out for their own interests rather than those of the consumer", the CII says an IPSB would, over time, encourage increased status for the adviser profession.
"The development of professional standards should improve job satisfaction for professionals in an industry commanding greater trust and respect, on a par with other professionals with rigorous standards like accountants and lawyers."
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Fantastic
I couldn't agree more with John's comments. Lets all join this gravy train - perhaps we can negotiate some big fat bonuses as well, after all who pays for it?? Sod working as an IFA!!
Posted by: Jerry Carrington
CII dispels myth ISPB will be more regulation
The CII has put my mind at rest that the IPSB will not be a new tier of regulation staffed by a bunch of no-nothing parasites - NOT!
Posted by: billwells
IPSB is a "myth"...
It will never happen and why should it? The CII has caused enough hassle over the last two decades, now it has the 'PFS Representative body' and wants to conquer the financial world. I'm sorry but it is time to put a stop to all this, there are too many 'representative bodies' plying their own trade in vested interests, they appear to forget the 'consumer' has needs that they have all singularly failed to meet. Time to try bottom up regulation, to date the top down approach has not worked.
Posted by: Evan Owen
IS IT A MYTH ??
The military wing of the real CII, the PFS, promtes itself as a compliance arm of the FSA! If a PFS member fails to submit to the PFS their CPD log, they (the PFS) will report that member to the FSA. Many PFS members who never the less are fully compliant object to this heavy handed approach. Further the CII have activily conspired with the regulators to promote the 2012 RDR dealine so that they can increase their fee take by a huge margin.
Posted by: John Doe
More money for the CII
Like most things from the CII/PFS (why the different wings they are one and the same) it is no doubt being being driven by income. So they can sell more of their products to provide the necessary CPD that will be compulsory via this police force. No doubt they will trot out their we are a not for profit excuse but as they effectively have a monopoly which they battle to keep there is no pressure to reduce costs to us advisers. They will fight for all the income sources possible to keep the funds flowing to fund their their high salaries and prime London buildings. This windfall of sales via the RDR should see the price of course books and exam entry fees plummeting ha ha
Posted by: John Watts
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Excellent
I am all in favour and would be very interested in sitting on this new board. As after all I am in the wrong side of this industry I should move to the parasitic side and live off the efforts of those stupid enough to actually take a risk and work.
Posted by: john whipple