The FSA has said it will set out the key issues for discussion on its major review of the retail distribution market at a conference on 27 June 2007.
The retail distribution review, launched in June 2006, involves the FSA, industry and consumer representatives looking at the whole retail distribution chain from firms who manufacture products through to those that advise and sell to the public.
The FSA says that a number of severe failings in the current market were identified by chairman Callum McCarthy, last year, in a keynote speech where he asked if the present model is bust and called on industry to work with the FSA to address them.
The results of this work will be published by the FSA in a discussion paper at the conference, at the QEII Centre in London. McCarthy and the FSA's managing director for retail markets, Clive Briault, will both be speaking at the conference.
Stephen Bland, the FSA's director leading the retail distribution review, commented: “ It is important that as many players as possible from all parts of the distribution chain attend the event to help us in our role as a catalyst for industry solutions that will improve market efficiency and lead to better outcomes for consumers. We are also looking at whether and how current regulation may present an unnecessary barrier to such market development."
