The Consumer Duty Alliance has launched a 'talent alliance’ to attract people to the advice profession.
It aims to share good practice and expand initiatives already available to progress a career in personal finance by bringing together academies, training organisations, qualification bodies and recruiters.
The alliance is chaired by Tom Hegarty, managing director of M&G Wealth Advice, previously managing director of the SimplyBiz New Model Business Academy.
Keith Richards, CEO of the CDA, said: “With positive government and regulatory focus brought to bear on addressing the advice gap, latest FCA adviser statistics suggest that we may instead be heading for an advice crunch.
“The solution to attract new talent ultimately sits within the gift of the whole sector, which is why we believe there is a need to come together and collectively promote the profession as a career of choice.”
The alliance’s steering group is made up of key stakeholders from CII, CISI, LIBF, M&G Wealth, SJP, Quilter, NextGen Planners, Verve Group, Bespoke Training Solutions, Brand Financial Training and Anthony George Recruitment.
FT Adviser recently revealed the number of younger advisers fell over the past 18 months while the number of older advisers grew, raising concerns about the advice gap.
Data provided by the Financial Conduct Authority to FT Adviser revealed that as of February 2024 there were 174 advisers authorised to provide retail investment advice under the age of 25.
This is a significant drop of 60 per cent from August 2022 when FT Adviser found there were 426 retail advisers aged below 25.
Meanwhile the number of advisers aged over 60 has grown from 4,824 in August 2022 to 6,210 in February 2024, a jump of 29 per cent.
The new talent alliance said while big firms have dedicated academies, small advice firms make up over 80 per cent of the regulated advice sector.
It said even if these smaller firms are not planning on recruiting new talent, the alliance believes they can still play a key role in the promotion of the profession and sign-post new talent to other firms or academies.
Hegarty added: “We intend to create guides and ‘good practice’ sharing to support firms of all sizes, as well as, sign-post to additional support and initiatives across the alliance.
“We believe that together we can make positive progress without impacting the importance of diversity, choice and competition. Our overriding purpose is clear - to help firms attract, train, and retain the brightest talent, thereby driving growth, innovation and opportunity across the sector."
The alliance said it wants to engage with regulators and government departments to develop new talent and address the advice gap.
It also wants to provide guidance to smaller firms who may not have experience or resources to recruit and train new talent.
amy.austin@ft.com
