Educational Seminars To Address The Crucial Issue For IFAs In 2011

600 IFA firms already signed up for UCIS compliance roadshow

In the wake of intense regulatory scrutiny into the promotion of unregulated collective investment schemes (UCIS) over the past six months by the FSA, three of the UK’s leading UCIS providers and a major IFA service provider firm are set to host a series of educational seminars for IFAs across the UK. UCIS is predicted to be one of the most important issues for intermediaries in 2011, and the seminars will offer guidance on how these products are allowed to be promoted to investors. 

In addition, with the implementation of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) due in 2012, and the widening of the definition of whole of market to include UCIS, the compliant promotion of UCIS is now high on the agenda for the IFA community. RDR rules dictate that financial advisers must be able to both ‘consider’ UCIS and understand how they work if they are to remain independent.  

In July 2010, an investigation by the FSA into IFAs identified non-compliant recommendation of UCIS products by the vast majority of IFA firms investigated. Furthermore, the FSA has publicly stated that UCIS compliance will be one of its central areas of scrutiny in 2011. Any IFA found to have provided unsuitable advice on UCIS may face FSA restrictions as has been demonstrated in 2010. 

In order help the IFA community address this issue, Future Capital Partners (“FCP”), the £6 billion alternative investment specialist, has teamed up with Managing Partners Capital, Chancery and the IFA service provider specialist firm, threesixtyservices, to host 13 educational events across the UK and Northern Ireland in January and February. All the seminars will be chaired by Incisive Media’s Editorial Director Lawrence Gosling.

The seminars will run from 25 January to the 9^th February. Each seminar will include presentations and panel sessions designed to give IFAs detailed guidance on how to promote UCIS products to their clients, compliance with FSA regulation and an insight into the range of products available in the market. Almost 600 IFAs from across the UK have already signed up to attend the seminars. 

Piers Denne, Head of Sales and Marketing at Future Capital Partners, which offers UCIS products in the green energy, media and property sectors, commented: “The spotlight of the FSA on the recommendation of UCIS will be the major concern for IFAs in the next year, and these seminars will equip them with everything they need to advise on them. UCIS can provide important investment diversification within a client’s portfolio, offer excellent downside protection and have significant benefits for investors tax situation. With IFAs’ independence also resting on UCIS compliance, IFAs need to be acting now, to make sure they are fully up to speed.

David Ingram, Partner at threesixtyservices, commented: “We specialise in providing regulatory and compliance advice to a huge number of IFAs, and the feedback we have had from them is that UCIS products are more and more in demand among their clients. Sophisticated advisers understand the importance that these products will play in the future, and the smart ones are making sure that they can fully support their recommendations – be that to use UCIS or to avoid them.”

David Nash, Partner at Chancery, which provides tax solutions for intermediaries, commented: “UCIS are an ideal way for investors to enhance the tax outlook within their portfolios, and are an excellent complement for more traditional long-only investment schemes. UCIS are rapidly becoming a part of the mainstream intermediary sector, so it’s vital that IFAs are able to recommend them to their tax focused clients. Any IFA seeking guidance on how to do that should attend one of our seminars and see how much their clients could benefit.”

John Dengate, Director of Managing Partners Capital, commented: “UCIS products tend to cater for innovative and specialist investment sectors that investors would not normally be able to access through regulated schemes. We believe that it is part of an IFA’s duty to provide their clients with as broad and diversified a portfolio as possible, and not recommending UCIS represents a significant gap in their offering.”