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03/07/2005: "Updated index for: Competition policy"

'The future of financial advice': CSFI press release
The Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation, with support from Accenture, commissioned Stuart Fowler to write a paper on financial advice after polarisation. This November 2002 press release summarises key findings and when and how the author's views differed from many of his working party. CSFI Director Andrew Hilton bills the paper as 'an important step beyond Sandler, Pickering, Myners and CP121'.

'The future of financial advice in a post-polarisation marketplace'
Coming after a number of public policy initiatives, the CSFI working party chose to focus on the business economics of financial advice and the business challenges faced by providers and distributors if we are to cut the need for specific advice, lower the cost of all financial advice, increase ease of access to advice and improve its quality. The dominant revenue model, commission-based, is seen as an obstacle to these objectives, preventing commodity products, keeping more products and providers than efficient product markets require and raising consumer costs. The paper explores the scope for an economically separate and fee-based advice market and what encouragement it will need from public policy initiatives.

What changing polarisation is all about
This explanation of the FSA's original 'depolarisation' proposals in 2002 (from the old No Monkey Business website) is still useful background briefing. The commission proposals changed a lot along the way (see 'Commissions' under Monkey tricks) and the engagement of high street firms as 'multi-tied' distributors of financial products looks like 'more of the same' rather than the strong retailing model, pro-competition, we see in consumer goods.