ALIFA -- Compliance Service

We were doing a little research on what is the position now in order to be able to sign off pension transfers as a firms "pension transfer specialist" - now that G60 has been replaced. Obviously for those who already hold G60, this still meets the requirement. We spoke to the Financial Services Skills Council who now make recommendations on suitable qualifications and they confirmed that the AF3 exam is required to be registered as a Pensions Transfer specialist, this being the replacement at the G60 level.

There is another consultation exercise going on to confirm exactly what an exam syllabus should cover in relation to a pensions transfer exam although at the time it seems very unlikely that any restructuring could take place before the latter part of 2008 (and knowing how these things always run behind, personally we would have thought not until 2009).

For more information please contact us.

Scot Eq has produced one of the most concise summaries we’ve seen of the Retail Distribution Review currently being undertaken by the FSA. As everyone must be aware there’s been a tremendous amount of speculation about what the outcome might be, but just about the only aspects that are now becoming clear are:

Higher qualifications seem inevitable. Previously FSA had been talking of Chartered status, which may seem somewhat overkill for many, although no doubt there are valid arguments for this at the more complex business levels. They seem now to be mellowing towards Diploma level as a minimum (roughly around the old "Advanced FC") - but watch this space.

Remuneration - still a mobile target, but again a mellowing, in seeing some form of provider funding - as long as the client is effectively in the "driving seat". FSA may be hamstrung by EU legislation on how far they can go in this...

The dust hasn't yet settled!

If you haven't the time, interest or sheer willpower to read the stuff coming out of the FSA, Scot Eq's summary is worth a look, and of course you should be aware of what's coming, even if only to consider what you might need to undertake in the future. Please contact us for a copy.