Financial advice shake-up

Will it be harder to tell if an advisor is independent or not?

BBC Radio 4's Money Box was broadcast on Saturday, 27 November, 2004 at 1204 GMT.

The programme was repeated on Sunday, 28 November, at 2102 GMT.

Click here for the programme transcript

The biggest change in the way financial products have been sold and controlled for 16 years begins on Wednesday.

Currently, people who sell financial products are either fully independent and look at the whole of the market, or they are tied to one company, such as a bank or insurer and can only sell that company's products.

But from Wednesday new Financial Services Authority rules mean companies will be able to sell each other's products and there will eventually be six different types of sales staff.

There will also be major changes to the way information is given. In future, sales staff must tell customers much earlier what service they offer and what it costs.

Dan Waters is the FSA's Director of Retail Policy. He explained the changes.

And Stephen Ingledew, Commercial Director of Barclays Financial Planning, and Nick Bamford, former Chair of the Society of Financial Advisers and Managing Director of IFA firm Informed Choice, gave their opinions on how it will affect the advice industry and the consumers it serves.

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Producer: Jessica Dunbar
Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporter: Louise Greenwood
Web Producer: Nathalie Knowles