FCA's Review of 20 Largest Advice Firms Could Have Significant Impact on Industry

As part of the FCA’s Consumer Duty work, in which the association is looking to crack down on regulated firms providing unsuitable advice or charging obscure fees, it requested data from the 20 biggest advice firms in the UK relating to their ongoing services and whether they had made any changes since Consumer Duty was introduced.

It also requested that each firm provide data on:

• How many clients are currently awaiting a review of the ongoing suitability of the advice received as part of the service
• How many clients have received that review
• How many clients paid for ongoing advice but received a fee refund as the review did not happen

In February 2024, wealth management firm St James’s Place (SJP) was served with a section 166 notice by the FCA – a section 166 notice, or ‘skilled person review’, requires regulated firms to appoint (or have the FCA appoint) a skilled person to review their activities. According to CityWire, the skilled person was appointed to:
“review a large sample of the firm’s ongoing advice back-book, and the business will go back from 2018 to 2023 and look at whether there is evidence clients received an annual service”.

Around the same time, SJP announced that it was ringfencing almost £430 million to cover the cost of complaints expected as a result of ongoing advice fees and obscure charges.

In April 2024, after discussions with the FCA, Quilter Financial Services Ltd (Quilter) was also served a section 166 notice regarding its ongoing advice service.

If you have engaged with a financial adviser, financial planner or wealth management firm and think you may have been paying fees for ongoing advice or annual reviews that you have not received, speak to TLW Solicitors.

Working on a ‘no win – no fee’ basis, TLW’s experienced ongoing service fees team can help you through the compensation process, whether this is settled in the early stages directly with your financial adviser or through the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

TLW Solicitors’ team has extensive experience successfully taking cases to FOS and securing client compensation, even if they have been knocked back previously.

Sarah Spruce, Legal Director and Head of the Professional Negligence department at TLW Solicitors, commented:

“The potential scale of the ongoing advice fee saga is huge and there are so many individuals who could be affected. In some cases, the fee structures are so obscure that clients are completely unaware they are paying for advice and annual reviews they are not receiving, which could mean that they are stuck with underperforming, unsuitable, or unnecessarily risky investments that could cost them even more in the long run.

My team can review your case and let you know if you could be owed compensation from your financial adviser, financial planner or wealth manager. Get in touch for a no-obligation consultation to explore your options and see if you may be eligible to make a no-win, no-fee refund claim.”