Financial advisors ‘should learn to be fairer’

The organisation suggests that professional financial advisors ought to gain a qualification in treating customers fairly (TCF) in line with relevant Financial Services Authority guidelines.

And as debt management problems mount nationwide, the ifs School of Finance is keen to see financial advisory firms take their responsibility to treat consumers fairly more seriously.

Mark Roberts, head of financial regulation at ifs, said: “Organisations need to implement TCF strategies that will satisfy both regulatory and customer expectations and gaining rigorous and respected qualifications such as the Certificate in Regulated Customer Care can help achieve this.”

Meanwhile, Citizens Advice figures have shown that its staff dealt with more than 1.4 million new requests for debt advice over the course of last year.