The early days of FIMBRA were a steep learning curve for the Regulator and the Regulated. Many of the "rotten apples" found the going too tough to continue as an Independent Financial Adviser and simply stopped selling Pensions and Investments. Prior to "A" day there were circa 550,000 involved in selling Insurance and most families knew their "Man from the Pru", or the agent from Abbey Life - since then there has been a massive fall in the number of Financial Advisers. The forthcoming changes arising from the Retail Distribution Review in 2012 will reduce the numbers still further.
With so few Financial Advisers left - is it any wonder that for many years we lost touch with the "savings culture"? People "want it now" and borrowed to finance their lifesytle aspirations. And the Banks and Big Institutions all encouraged us to borrow. We all did - well, most of us did.
The Regulatory Regime at the time meant that each SRO had to be "self sufficient" as far as possible - but with cross subsidy from the other (most notably LAUTRO)Regulators. FIMBRA was running out of money and an elegant solution was found - by combining the "wealthy" Insurance Company SRO (LAUTRO) with the FIMBRA the Personal Investment Authority (PIA) was formed. Another year, another combined Rulebook - out with the tan coloured FIMBRA Rulebook and the blue Rulebook and welcome to the nice white and green PIA Rulebook - all paid for by fees from the Regulated Community who in turn were paid by you and me via charges to our policies and savings. Good time to be a printer.
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