Associate
Ok, allow me to rephrase, have you sat any of the QCF papers from the CII or CISI? Do you have any idea of their content or difficulty? What about the CPD requirements that all IFAs must satisfy in order to retain their Statement of Professional Standing? Or the fact that IFAs must pass the appropriate FCA checks to be considered 'Fit and Proper'?
It's all too easy to extract a single comment from a Wikipedia article and misconstrue it. Having sat my QCF 4 papers, I can say categorically that the content is far more technical than anything I sat during my first year of University, but also far more relevant to understanding financial instruments and the various scenarios and suitability of them to individual investors.
The suggestion that they are salespeople is really rather here nor there as it is not qualified to what extent. We are all salespeople in some capacity, whether it's selling a product or selling ourselves. In the context that IFAs provide recommendations for products based upon a number of factors specific to the client receiving the recommendation, then yes, they are salespeople. But it isn't sales in the concept that they earn commission for the products they sell or are somehow remunerated on a per sale basis. The cost of mis-selling a product is perilously high now, to the point that the FCA can revoke an IFAs license if they have been found to mis-sell a product and on top of that charge them inordinately high damages (see: Arch Cru and Keydata structured products).
Now, I don't dispute that there are (as with any profession) bad examples. I will hold my tongue on naming and shaming a few who I believe tarnish their reputation to a degree, but the reality is that the stakes of being an IFA have risen so high now that the penalties for behaving in such a way make it madness. Some of the IFAs I work with have been stung with £500,000 bills to pay to the FCA because they recommended products that the FSA themselves signed off as 'suitable for retail investors.' Christ, there are people out there who have had their licenses revoked for recommending other products that the FSA also signed off as being suitable.
I know Orch is an IFA himself and I have been working with IFA practices throughout the UK for years now and it seems that your opinions are based on either a bad experience years ago or just a general lack of understanding of the financial advice industry as a whole.
Well explained, much better than my rambling attempt.