What is Retail Distribution Review (RDR)?
The Retail Distribution Review (RDR) proposes significant regulatory reform. As with any change in legislation, financial services providers (FSPs) will have to adapt to and change some of the ways in which they do business to comply with new requirements. We provide support to our clients by keeping them up to date with changes, helping them to identify how proposed changes may impact them and providing solutions that can be implemented to protect the integrity of their licence so that business can continue.
This ongoing support gives our clients peace of mind and places valuable client-facing time back into the hands of the FSP, which they would otherwise have had to expend to understand the changes and develop their own systems. As part of our RDR focus, we have previously released RDR special edition newsletters and videos in an effort to continuously keep our clients informed and up-to-date.
FSCA DOCUMENTS
FSCA Press Releases
FAIS Conference March 2017 – PowerPoint Presentations
2014
NEWSLETTERS
1. The Retail Distribution Review paper
The much anticipated Retail Distribution Review (RDR) paper has finally been published for comment.
2. Will your value proposition stand the test of time?
Masthead focuses on advice: what the FSCA proposes about advice services and what you need to do to build a strong value proposition based on your choice of advice services.
Click to read more
3. Define and refine your activities so customers know what they’re paying for
- Remuneration for financial planning: Masthead explores the FSCA’s proposed remuneration structures for services/activities delivered to customers, with a specific focus on financial planning advice. Click to read more
- Services Connecting Customer and Product Supplier: The RDR proposals seek to give retail customers confidence in the retail financial services market. Masthead looks at some of the services that connect product suppliers and customers, how the FSCA separates the activity of sales from ongoing product maintenance/servicing and how advisors can be remunerated for these services. Click to read more
- The end of SIGN-ON bonus: The “sign-on bonus ban” has become reality as Board Notice 146/2014 was published on 4 December 2014, incorporating its provisions into the General Code of Conduct (the Code) and amending the Code. Click to read more
4. Re-balancing responsibilities for ensuring fair customer outcomes
Masthead looks at the responsibilities of product suppliers in ensuring fair customer outcomes. Under the current regulatory framework, responsibility for fair customer outcomes, particularly in relation to advice, has largely been placed on financial advisors. The aim of the Regulator is to re-balance this responsibility by requiring product suppliers to get involved. Click to read more
5. Unlock your remuneration potential by defining your customer interactions
Income is the lifeblood of any business. After all, this provides the cash flow. The most pressing question is therefore, “How will the RDR proposals affect advisors’ ability to earn a sustainable income, sufficient to meet expenses and maintain current lifestyles both in the medium and longer term?” To answer this question, one needs to understand the different ways proposed for an advisor to be paid, by whom and how this differs between product types. Click to read more
6. How will your status impact your customer relations?
The 55 proposals contained in the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) discussion paper can be grouped into three categories. In previous editions Masthead has focused on activity-based services and remuneration. In this edition, Masthead deals with the relationship or status of advisors under RDR. The reason for this is because relationship and status, together with activities, feed into remuneration under RDR. Click to read more
7. Financial planning criteria and hybrid advice models
Under RDR, all types of financial advisors will be able to offer financial planning or risk planning as a service to their customers. However, there will be competence criteria that they will be expected to meet and conduct standards to which they will have to adhere. Click to read more
8. Masthead submits RDR feedback to FSCA after engaging with over 700 IFAs
As part of the consultation process the FSCA invited feedback on the paper. So, over a period of about 12 weeks, we helped our IFAs to come to grips with the RDR paper. More recently we ran 20 workshops around the country, with over 700 IFAs attending. We used these sessions, as well as numerous email and telephonic comments as a basis for our input from IFAs. This detailed feedback was submitted to the FSCA. Click here to read our feedback.
VIDEOS
1. How advisors really feel about RDR
In this video, Ian Middleton gives more insight into how advisors feel about RDR.
2. Advisor reaction to RDR objectives
Masthead has been hosting RDR sessions around the country since mid-January. These sessions focus on sharing the content of the RDR discussion paper and gathering input from advisors. The input gathered will be submitted as Masthead’s feedback to the FSCA in early March. In this video, Ian Middleton shares some thoughts, reactions and observations that have come out of the sessions thus far.
3. The impact of RDR on consumers, advisors and product suppliers
Ian Middleton tackles the burning question everyone is asking: “What are the impacts of RDR?” He provides a concise overview of how RDR is likely to affect consumers, financial advisors and product suppliers.
4. Is Retail Distribution Review (RDR) out to get advisors?
In episodes 1 and 2 of Mastering Compliance Special Edition, Masthead looked at the way the FSCA categorises the activities of advisors. In this video, Ian Middleton focuses on why this is important and comments on whether RDR is ‘out to get advisors’.
