Staying solo

1 December or D-Day has seen the introduction of depolarisation, whereby intermediaries will be able...

1 December or D-Day has seen the introduction of depolarisation, whereby intermediaries will be able to adopt one of three advisory models - whole of market, multi-tie or single tie. But despite this it seems that the overwhelming majority of IFAs will opt to stay independent with the whole of market model. A recent survey suggested that 82% of IFAs would stay independent, with only 17% saying that they would adopt a combined independent and multi-tie structure. Other estimates suggest that at most 30% of IFAs might go multi-tie. But does a firm's advisory model ultimately matter? Perhaps ...