Unbiased.co.uk Launches New MiFID IFA Search Functionality
- Search upgraded to incorporate changes resulting from the introduction of the Market in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID)
- Consumers can now select advisers who have opted into MiFID - according to FSA records
- Search splits advisers into those who can give advice to all UK expatriates (including those in the European Economic Area (EEA) and those who can only give advice to consumers based in the UK
- Visit www.unbiased.co.uk to find an IFA with the correct authorisation to meet your individual requirements for independent financial advice
Unbiased.co.uk’s ‘Find an IFA’ service, available at 59 different white labels across the internet, has added Market in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) search functionality to its service, allowing UK expatriates to find advisers who are specialists in providing independent financial advice to consumers and businesses not based in the UK.
The Market in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) came into force in the UK on 1st November 2007, and as a result all advisers who offer cross-border financial advice (i.e. to clients based in the EEA) have to “opt in” to the Market in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) in order to be authorised to offer this advice. Unbiased.co.uk has bolstered its ‘Find an IFA’ search by allowing users to specify whether they are based in the EEA or in the Rest of the World, and as a result can direct users of the service to those advisers who have opted into MiFID to provide advice in the EEA. .
Over 1,112 member firms have currently registered with the FSA to conduct business across borders within the EEA, with 308 specifying ‘expatriate business’ as one of their top nine business areas as required by the Unbiased.co.uk membership process.
David Elms, Chief Executive of Unbiased.co.uk, commented: “There has always been a strong level of demand for independent financial advice from the UK expatriate community. With MiFID coming into force in the UK on 1st November 2007, the provision of independent financial advice to the UK expatriate community based in Europe must now be carried out by a MiFID ‘opted in’ adviser. As a result we have modified our search and allowed consumers who access the site from outside the UK to find IFAs who are most relevant to them.
“This change to the search continues Unbiased.co.uk’s commitment to matching the right IFA to the right consumer. Offering a wider search alongside the depth of knowledge available within our database, unbiased.co.uk continues to arm consumers with the intelligence to make the correct financial decisions.”
Unbiased.co.uk’s ‘Find an IFA’ service is now available across 59 white labelled versions at the websites of media outlets, industry bodies, internet portals and product providers. It delivers information to 575,000 consumers every year who request details of an IFA local to their home or business.
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Notes to editors
For further information please contact:
David Elms | Anna Schirmer/Jonathon Grove |
Chief Executive | Lansons Communications |
Unbiased.co.uk | 020 7294 3682 |
020 7833 3131 |
For expert comment or case studies from over 200 media-friendly IFAs, journalists should call Unbiased.co.uk’s Media Services hotline on
020 7294 3682 or search online at www.unbiased.co.uk/media
1. Independent Financial Adviser Promotion
Unbiased.co.uk is the consumer brand of IFA Promotion, the organisation established in 1989 to promote the value and accessibility of independent financial advice to the public. It represents around 9,000 firms of independent financial advisers across the UK, incorporating over 17,000 registered individuals. These individuals hold over 22,000 incremental qualifications which are each individually verified by the awarding body. IFA Promotion welcomes the prominent display of incremental qualifications and further developments into the credentials of independent financial advice.
IFA Promotion is sponsored by 28 leading financial institutions, and in the past 12 months, over 575,000 consumers and businesses used unbiased.co.uk to find local independent financial advice.
IFA Promotion believes Independent financial advice should be:
Affordable. The option to take independent financial advice should be available, by right, to all- not just the wealthiest in society.
Convenient. IFAs should be available in the location of the consumer’s choice, wherever they live in the UK.
Transparent. It must be clearly transparent to consumers who is able to offer independent financial advice and who is not.
2. Independent Financial Adviser Promotion’s sponsors
Aberdeen Asset Management | Lincoln Financial Group |
Abbey | Lutine Assurance Services |
AEGON Scottish Equitable Plc | National Savings & Investments |
Alliance Trust | New Star Investment Funds |
AXA Life | Norwich Union Life |
Bright Grey | Prudential |
BUPA Health Services | Scottish Life |
Canada Life Ltd | Scottish Life International |
The Children’s Mutual | Scottish Widows Plc |
Clerical Medical Investment | Skandia UK Group |
Defaqto | Standard Life Assurance Company |
Friends Provident | Tomorrow |
Invesco Perpetual | Unum |
Legal & General | Zurich Intermediary Group |
Registered Office: IFA Promotion Ltd, 90 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow G2 5UB. Registered in Scotland: No. 114606