APFA demands more product provider responsibility

The Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) is calling for more product manufacturer responsibility when marketing materials are relied on by investors and advisers.

The trade body said the incoming Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) must ensure its rules, as well as those of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), more closely resemble European regulation such as PRIPs, where Article 11 places explicit responsibility on the manufacturers for product marketing materials. This, it said, would mean cases such as Keydata and Arch cru, "where misleading marketing material was a significant contributing factor to investors' losses", are avoided in the future. "We accept that financial advisers should only recommend properly-researched and sui...