What has the FSA ever done for us?

CISI: Up to 6,000 seasoned wealth managers must requalify for RDR

Here is the link http://www.citywire.co.uk/wealth-manager/cisi-up-to-6000-seasoned-wealth-managers-must-requalify-for-rdr/a467950?ref=wealth-manager-regulation-list

CoeurDeLion87 comments as follows;-

"The professional body stressed the number of practitioners needing to requalify would not exceed 6,000 because level four was formerly the base qualification for advisers working with private clients prior to the creation of the FSA in 2000." This phrase is NOT actually true. Prior to 2000 there were many seasoned stockbrokers who were given Secs Institute membership waivers by the Securities Institute as it was called then and the SFA, the forerunnerof the FSA approved of these waivers. Many were former Members of the Stock Exchange and some like myself were labelled as part of the "marzipan layer". All these '000s of personnel were and still are experienced personnel. The phrase Level 4 or for that matter any level was invented for RDR by the super-regulator FSA. From the demise of the old exchange till these experienced personnel supported the Secs Institute's introduction of exams in the early '90s there was no examination process amongst stockbrokers. The regulatory world was in chaos after FSA 1986 Act and appears to be in chaos again with the EU attack on 'execution' broking, the FSCS levy surcharge and the intolerable attitude to experienced personnel by FSA, CISI and firms who appear to be supporting RDR which in essence is an attack on the client bases of some very respected investment advisers. MANY OF US FEEL AS THOUGH WE'RE ENTERING A WAR ZONE.

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When the Securities Institute was formed in the early '90s over 3,000 former Members of the Stock Exchange transferred their memberships to this new body, now the CISI, which was set up to protect their interests. Looking at the maths it would seem that many of the 3,000, those who have not retired or who are dead, have decided NOT to undertake the RDR bureaucratic process. This is a final nail in the coffin for true private client broking unless the RDR process can be halted. Many of us feel that the whole 'wealth management' process has gone beyond a joke which is creating a pidgeon holing of those who want to simply provide bespoke broking of portfolios. There are 100's of '000s of investors effected by RDR and I do believe that FSA has completely misunderstood the dynamics of this orwellian exercise.

Having worked in the broking industry since around 1979/80 I am appalled at the way that seasoned practitioners are being treated and targeted here by hair brained regulators who clearly have no idea of how the market operates or what investors require. Where is the evidence that investors require over-qualified practitioners? What people do need are seasoned and experienced practitioners and the 3,000 or so defined by CISI need some support now. A few have suggested that RDR qualifications may be an infringement of Human Rights but they certainly are a restraint of trade towards those with very adequate experience.