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Advisers may have to fork out up to £175 every year to cover the cost of renewing the FSA's proposed Statement of Professional Standing (SPS) certificate.
Under plans in the latest RDR paper, advisers will need to obtain an SPS from an FSA-accredited body in order to continue practicing.
Although not stated in the paper, the FSA's Katharine Leaman says advisers will have to renew their SPS every year.
The FSA estimates the cost to advisers of obtaining an SPS from an accredited body will vary, but could be as much as £175 per adviser.
It will depend, the FSA says, on how much it costs professional bodies to meet its criteria to become accredited, costs it may then levy on advisers by charging to supply SPS certificates.
But the FSA says £175 may be a drastic overestimate for those advisers who belong to professional bodies that already meet its accreditation standards.
A bigger bearing on costs may instead come from the competition that develops in the "new" accreditation market, it says.
Many current professional bodies, including the Institute of Financial Planning (IFP) and the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), say they will apply for accreditation powers.
The FSA says it expects their members will have the cost of obtaining the SPS document absorbed into their regular annual subscription fee.
Advisers who choose to remain non-members of professional bodies would need to "subscribe" to an accredited body for verification of their CPD, qualifications and code of ethics in order to receive the mandatory SPS.
Larger firms with many advisers who are not members of professional bodies will be forced to weather the extra bill.
Manager of the FSA's professional standards policy team, Katharine Leaman, says it is down to the accredited body how they charge.
"Some advisers won't pay as much for the annual SPS fee as they are already members of professional bodies which have told us the costs to them of verifying the Statement will be limited, as they have already done much of the work to get up to standard.
"Advisers who are not members and are so not paying any subscription fees to a body will incur costs to become a member of an accredited institution. I assume subscriber costs will be less."
Consultation on the professionalism paper closes on 24 September and the FSA will publish its final rules in a Policy Statement in December.
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bring it on....
I have a hammer and a few nail oh and a coffin, helper wanted please. Without the good will of the IFA community then i fear the ever increasing regulatory cost will serve only to destroy all goodwill....
Posted by: Fraser Brydon - IFA
further costs.
Why dont the FSA take all our income and just pay us pocket money and be done with it. Every new idea they come up with costs us money. Is this another way of excluding most of the general public from independant financial advice by making our charges beyond their reach.The other alternative is to close down the FSA(or its new babies)and just transfer everyone to the banks, who will become their paymasters and as a result will not say boo to a goose to keep their nice paid jobs and gold plated benefits.b
Posted by: terry
Muppets?
In an earlier related article, one reader suggested that the FSA were 'Muppets, the lot of them'. I have to say I think that's very unfair. The Muppets were cleverly thought out, brilliantly inventive, well scripted and sneakily loved by most people. Whereas......
Posted by: Paul Harris
TCF
Nothing like Treating customers FAIRLY, the Fsa should realise we are their customers O well any customers coming into my office will now have to pay a surcharge for the tea and biscuits they get offered !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Barry Davis
WHEN WILL IT END?
Having been unwilling to breakdown their annual £600k+ expenditure, the FSA did apparently concede that £12,000 of this was spent on a 'leaving do'. Just think, if we ALL chipped in another £175 it would pay for leaving dos for all of them. Now that WOULD be money well spent. I don't even mind Hector Santh getting pitthed on my money as long ath he sodth off afterwardth.
Posted by: Keith Jayne
If it wasn't so tragic. . .
I'm becoming more and more convinced that there's an FSA department whose sole function is to dream up wheezes, ruses and schemes to hit IFAs with ever more costs. So, to be qualified isn't enough. To perform and record CPD, as we've been doing for years, isn't enough. Okay, FSA, you've won. After 32 years of looking after clients without a single complaint, I'm going to leave the industry. In a few years time when the FSA (or it's devil progeny)look back and wonder why so few IFAs are left, why so many clients are not receiving independent financial advice, when so many more clients are lodging complaints (against the banks) and the protection and savings gap has widened even further, it will be little comfort to the likes of us to say "I told you so". Utter madness.
Posted by: Howard
Les
Failed Bureaucracy gone mad again Overpaid but good at costing us money
Posted by: Les
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When will these never ending new costs cease?
More ideas with more costs a nd who the help are these 50+ firms out of 70+ firms who responded in favour of these costs? Before long no one will be left to be able to pay the never ending list of new costs they keep coming up with, almost one new cost every week now.
Posted by: Michael Fallas