Adviser reporting requirements

New adviser reporting templates

As of 7 March 2016, the following Retail Distribution Review reporting templates have been updated:

• professional standards data (PSD)
• form G (retail investment advisor complaints notification form)
• retail investment adviser (RIA) competence notification form

Please use the forms referenced below.

Professional standards data

We use this to identify whether your firm’s advisers hold appropriate qualifications. 

You must send us professional standards information for each of your retail investment advisers through section G of your RMAR (RMA-G) on RegData.

Your charging model (part of the Retail Mediation Activities Return (RMAR))

You should complete these sections of your RMAR to help us supervise our adviser and consultancy charging rules:

• Section B needs a profit and loss account
• Section G needs details about your training and competence
• Section K needs data on adviser charging income, payment methods, client numbers and charging structures

In section K:

• if you are an investment manager that gives personal recommendations on retail investment products (or related services), you should send us information on charges - depending on your business activities
• if you do not have permission to give personal recommendations on retail investment products (or related services), you will not have to send us charging information
• if your firm charges a management fee for adviser charges and a similar fee for services that are unrelated to personal recommendations on retail investment products, you do not have to distinguish between these charges
• Notes for completing the RMAR[1]

Ongoing complaints data

You must tell us about any complaints against your retail investment advisers, so we can understand their behaviour and abilities, analyse trends and intervene earlier.

We need you to tell us within 20 working days:

• whenever three complaints are upheld in any 12 month period
• where a complaint is upheld and compensation exceeds £50,000

To submit your data:

1. Complete and save the Form G template[2]
2. Email it to [email protected] with the subject line containing your FRN and the words ‘Form G. For encrypted versions, send to [email protected] and use our PGP key[3] (.asc file).

We need a separate Form G for each adviser you are making a complaint about.

Once you have told us about these complaints, you should also report them in your RegData 6-monthly return and in the firm-level and individual-adviser-level complaints reports.

Adviser competence data

All firms with retail investment advisers have to notify us of any competence and ethics issues that arise. We need to know about advisers who:

• are no longer considered competent
• fail to get an appropriate qualification within the prescribed time limit
• fail to comply with a Statement of Principle (APER)
• perform an activity without showing competence and with no supervision

For any breaches of these requirements, you must:

1. complete a competence notification form[4]
2. email it to [email protected]

You may be able to rectify more minor issues straight away where there is no risk to consumers, or where there is no hint of serious competence failings.

The ethical behaviour and competence of individual advisers is very important and this notification requirement gives us insights into this, as well as allowing us to build a better view of advisers as they move between firms.