Challenges will persist but so will opportunities 

The consumer duty will empower all financial services businesses to clearly articulate their service and proposition en route to delivering good client outcomes.

The duty is also bound to offer a pathway to differentiation amongst advice firms. We will see how this plays out from H2 2023 onwards – and firms should expect platforms to support them in meeting their new regulatory requirements.

While good data is now available, customer journeys and experiences are still not as collaborative as we have seen in other sectors.

As an industry we need to catch up, collectively embracing higher standards. However, full lifecycle advice with accumulation, transition and retirement planning – let us call it holistic advice – is achievable and can be successfully rendered with the help of the right platform partner, able and willing to actively collaborate with advisers in a shared effort to deliver for investors.

There is still work to do to apply technological advancement to reduce the cost of and increase access to advice, so it reaches the segments of the market who need it most.

If we can hasten this, we will be doing a great service to individuals who will be able to view the future with more confidence.

Confidence underpins markets, but it also fortifies investors to engage with and invest for their financial future.

Dylan Navra is head of product at Morningstar Wealth Management Solutions