Look at the leaflet at the bottom of this post, and apologies for the poor quality of the photo. It’s on display in Royal Bank of Scotland branches in Glasgow.
The ‘protection consultant’ is going to ‘help work out your needs’, ‘discuss the options available’, ‘answer questions’, ‘give you all the information to decide’ and ‘help you through the application process’. And he or she is going to do all of that without actually giving you any advice!
That’s remarkable and, I would suggest, impossible using any normal definition of the word advice.
The problem is that the Financial Conduct Authority don’t use normal definitions. You can help anyone you like, anytime you like, give guidance and discuss and answer questions. But you have to be an authorised individual to give ‘advice’ on regulated products and that’s why RBS is at pains to point out that their protection consultant is not giving advice on the products they are selling.
But here’s the strange thing. Protection products in general aren’t regulated and therefore you wouldn’t need to be an authorised individual to give advice on these products. So why is RBS so keen to make sure its customers understand that no advice is being given in this situation?
Likewise, the Government’s pension help vehicle ‘Pension Wise’ isn’t giving advice to people confused by the new pension freedom rules. They’re not authorised to do so, because they’re not qualified to do so. Only advisers authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority can give ‘advice, anything else is just guidance.
Confused?
You should be. It’s a mess, and it needs to be sorted out.
