EDITORIAL

March 15 came and went, and the sky didn’t fall on our heads. Welcome to the new world.

At this stage it does not feel like too much change but without a doubt some will be coming down the pipeline sooner or later.

While Covid-19 gets many curses it was arguably a godsend for the advice industry. Due to the pandemic the start date was pushed back a year.

Even with an extra 12 months some firms were not fully ready and some haven’t landed on their final plans yet.

Added to that many service providers say they were incredibly busy in the final few months as some advisers had left things to the last minute.

One of the biggest concerns is the number of people who have decided not to carry on as financial advisers. There is no hard data, but anecdotally many have removed their shingle from over the door.

Most of these people are advisers who have been at the coalface for decades.

There is a significant amount of experience leaving the advice world and that is a worry. But then, too, a new breed takes over. How will they change things? Or will the world be one where they don’t lead the change but rather have it forced on them by regulators and product manufacturers?

Speaking of regulators it was somewhat of a surprise to learn about the resignation of Financial Markets Authority chief executive Rob Everett.

Some people seem happy to see him go, however I think it will be a loss.

Who gets appointed to this new role is important as they will shape how the new advice regime evolves.

Everett is quite different to his gunslinging predecessor Sean Hughes. Everett believes in financial advice and that was one of the things he made clear to the board when he applied for the role.

Hopefully the FMA’s third CEO will be someone who is supportive of financial advice.

We will have more on Everett’s departure closer to the time, but I do think advisers are losing an important ally.

In this issue of ASSET we are celebrating winners in the Good Returns Fund Manager of the Year awards. While the gongs were handed out virtually at the end of last year we chose to do this piece once we had got through the normal endof-year madness.

The awards are important as they celebrate excellence and the best in the business.

Hopefully this year, Covid-19 willing, we will expand the awards event into something bigger. I won’t give away too much here, but we do have some exciting plans.

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