I was interested to read a recent article by Alan Hughes in Money Marketing which highlighted the continuing confusion around the Agent as Client agreement that many DFMs have with advisers.
I think it’s fair to say that some advisers underestimate the level of risk they are exposing their firms to by accepting this model. It’s a topic we examined recently in a paper called ‘Tangled – Making Sense of the New Rules & Regulations of MiFID II’, where we detail what the issues are around Agent as Client and why we favour the new Reliance on Others model that has come about as a result of MiFID II.
As Alan says in his article, Agent as Client arrangements can work as long as there is clarity. Sadly, in our experience, there appears to be very little clarity and many advisers are in the dark about where the responsibility lies with investment decisions.
With the regulator putting an increasingly close eye on how UK investors are treated, the time is ripe for all advisers to be 100% certain what they have signed up to with their DFM.