Emma RadmoreFCA is undertaking some discovery work looking at how financial advisers are delivering advice on retirement income, with a view to assessing the quality of the outcomes consumers are getting. FCA says that since 2015 there has been a large shift to consumers drawing an income from pension funds that remain invested – and it wants to check that advisory firms are properly understanding the needs of their customers.
FCA had planned to carry out this work sooner, but paused it during the pandemic. Now the project has revitalised, FCA will also use the review to look at how firms are responding to the changing consumer needs resulting from increased cost of living, and will link the work to its lifetime mortgages work. It says the results will also show how firms are implementing the Consumer Duty.
FCA plans to publish its report at the end of the year, and will be contacting the firms it has selected for inclusion early this year.