Advice plans under scrutiny after Peter Hargreaves’s criticism
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Billionaire’s attack raises questions about retail financial advice
It also highlighted concerns about a key development in the retail investment market — the expansion of low-cost financial advice to savers with too little money to benefit from full-blown personalised financial advice.
Regulators, led by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), see this advice gap as a big hole in the services UK financial companies offer the less well-off and are pressing for action. So it was little surprise last year that Hargreaves Lansdown, the country’s largest platform for do-it-yourself (unadvised) investors, joined companies stepping into the breach and announced plans for a low-cost advice service.
Still, other analysts have lauded Hargreaves Lansdown. Rae Maile, an analyst at Panmure Gordon, said: “There is a huge gap and need for advice. People don’t know where to find it, or what it will cost. In an age where things are more complicated, in terms of financial products, tax allowances — is there a need for advice? Absolutely.”
Author: Emma Dunkley, News Reporter and Editor, Financial Times
Rae Maile
Managing Director, Research Analyst, Financials & Tobacco
