Price wars and consumer confusion: Industry's fears after rebate ban

The retail financial services industry is expecting to see a proliferation of share classes, a price war, and customer confusion as a result of the decision to ban rebates, new research has claimed.

A study by outsourcing giant IFDS and Clive Waller (pictured)'s CWC Research into the impact of the rebate ban has revealed an industry forecasting a number of unintended consequences as a result of the major shake-up by the regulator and HMRC. Collating the views of the three key links in the value chain - asset managers, platforms and distributors/advisers - the research's most clear finding was that the ban on rebates will lead to an increase in confusion for customers because of a lack of standardised approaches to areas such as fund prices. Some 70% of the platform chiefs intervi...