Financial Guidance & Simplified Advice Working Group

Unlock ability for firms to provide better quality, more personalised financial guidance and simplified advice to consumers

Background and Purpose

The purpose of the TISA Financial Guidance and Simplified Advice Working Group is to work with a group of leading financial services firms who are collectively of the view that the current definition of financial guidance remains ambiguous and this is causing consumer detriment.

Key issues include:-

• Inconsistencies in the way that firms interpret and apply the current rules
• Consumers are poorly equipped to filter the wide range of information available to make informed financial decisions resulting in a lack of engagement and poor decision making
• Limitations on the extent to which financial guidance can be personalised for a consumer frequently both restricts and reduces the relevancy of information offered, impeding better consumer decisions and outcomes
• Constraints on financial services firms to proactively reach out to consumers to prompt better management of their personal finances

FCA has committed to considering the proposals as part of their future planned activities to recraft MiFID regulations to better suit the UK retail investment landscape, and has requested TISA’s input into their longer-term plans to rewrite MiFID (now it is UK law).  This is an excellent once-in -a-decade opportunity for TISA and our members to shape the regulatory landscape for investment products, to ensure the needs of UK society are better met.  This will be a future focus of this Working Group.

Achievements of the Group

TISA secured a number of key meetings with Treasury Select Committee MPs.  Ex-City Minister Harriett Baldwin MP requested TISA draft an amendment to the Financial Services & Markets Bill 2022 (currently going through Parliament) covering the TISA policy ask.  She made a highly supportive speech in the House of Commons for the policy change, mentioning TISA, and alerted the House that she will be tabling the TISA amendment.  TISA has submitted its written evidence to the Public Bill Committee for the FS&M Bill 22. 

TISA has continued engagement with other trade bodies on our proposals, to help ensure the industry remains consistent and speaks with one voice.  A joint letter (to be signed by IA, ABI, PIMFA and the AIC) should be approved imminently which will be calling on HMT to consult on changing the Advice-Guidance boundary.  

Structure of Meetings

The Financial Guidance and Simplified Advice Working Group meets monthly. The core group consists of seven member firms working collectively to address the issues. In addition, there is a wider group of a further 15 organisations that are making contributions to the core group and are supportive of the need to address the key issues​. The group also receives updates at each meeting on other relevant TISA initiatives.