Financial Planners have nothing to fear from the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) new Consumer Duty rules, according to providers.

Platform and investment product providers said that most Financial Planning firms will already be meeting most of the regulator’s expectations under the new duty.

Barry Neilson, chief commercial officer at adviser platform Novia, said Financial Planners have nothing to fear from Consumer Duty.

He said: “The Financial Planning profession has nothing to fear from the consumer duty. The winding regulatory road kickstarted by the retail distribution review and augmented by MIFID II and PROD mean that most financial planning practices will already be aligned to the new principle and operate businesses with cultures and processes that put good client outcomes at the heart of everything they do.

“The additional challenge facing many firms across the distribution chain will be to better source and harness data to evidence and document adherence to the new principle, the cross-cutting rules and the four outcomes. This is likely to put more onus on platforms to be sharing more detailed data, especially relating to servicing standards, and for advisers to adopt new metrics to better measure client understanding and satisfaction levels. A consequence of the need for greater data exchange may be that advisers look to reduce the number of platforms and other providers they utilise in a bid to establish fewer relationships which offer a much deeper and consistent sharing of data.”

Investment platform AJ Bell believes that the new Consumer Duty rules could help advisers by forcing clarification around the boundary between guidance and advice.

Tom Selby, head of retirement policy at investment platform AJ Bell, said: “Consumer Duty brings to a head the arguments around the boundary between guidance and advice.

“If the full benefits of the Duty are to be realised, the FCA – or possibly the Government via legislative reform - will need to provide clarity on this boundary.

“Without such clarity, there is a risk customers will receive sub-optimal levels of support when making often complex financial decisions.”

He added that not much is likely to change for good financial advice firms as a result of the new duty as they are likely to be already meeting much of the regulator’s new expectations.

Investment, retirement and protection provider Aegon called for providers, platforms, and advisers to work together to make sure they deliver on the new Duty.

Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon, said: “We had called for additional guidance in many areas and the final version of the guidance has increased from 72 to 120 pages, with further sector specific guidance promised. There is more guidance on the respective responsibilities across what are often complex distribution chains involving fund managers, platforms, product manufacturers and advisers.

“To deliver on the new Duty, every firm will need to understand changes in approaches of those before and after them in the distribution chain. This will be one of the greatest challenges ahead and close collaboration will be key. We hope through an iterative process that industry standard approaches will emerge in areas such as data exchange and presentation of ‘value assessments’.”