Open letter from SimplyBiz in response to New Model Adviser article

Aifa: we are not edging out smaller members

'The recent news article ‘Aifa: we are not edging out smaller members’ Apr 13, 2011, is unfortunately misleading in the way in which it references SimplyBiz.

Firstly, SimplyBiz is the largest independent service provider in the market, providing compliance and business support to over 2000 directly authorised Member Firms. We are neither a network nor a national.

Secondly, SimplyBiz has not attempted to influence Aifa in any way with regards to supporting the restricted advice model. Quite the opposite, at SimplyBiz we recently made clear our position as the ‘Champion of Independent Advice’, backing the cause for advisers who wish to remain independent.

At SimplyBiz, we have committed to providing all of the tools, software and processes necessary for both large and smaller firms to remain unrestricted. Post-RDR, we have no doubt that the consumer will continue to demand independent financial advice, and this is where there are great opportunities for advisers.  We believe that this is the route the majority of professional advisers will choose and therefore our role is to support them by ensuring they can meet all of the new requirements. The feedback that we have received from Members of SimplyBiz currently indicates that 97% of the firms we serve wish to remain independent post RDR, so that is where we are applying our focus. The solutions that we will make available to these firms will also be made available for the firms that we serve who want to become restricted. We will support both models, but expect the independent model to be the most popular by far.

We believe that remaining independent post RDR will not be a challenge, providing advisers have access to the tools necessary to conduct a fair analysis of the relevant market, and are quickly and expertly able to assess those products which are not appropriate for clients.

Remaining independent will be difficult for the large nationals and networks, and for commercial reasons they will have a vested interest in restricted advice. Our commitment is that for those firms who want to continue advising their clients in an unrestricted way, we will ensure they are able to do so efficiently. Furthermore, we are guaranteeing to any firm who joins us before September 30th 2011 that our charge of 2.5% will never increase. In addition, for larger firms, we have capped our charges at just under £550 per month ensuring that membership of SimplyBiz has never been better value.'

Ken Davy

Chairman

Simply Biz PLC