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.
A number of severe failings in the current market were identified by the FSA's 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. Callum 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, will be chairing the conference. He said:
"The conference will set out our thinking on the solutions and report on progress made over the last year on the five major themes of the Review: the sustainability of the retail distribution sector; the impact of incentives; professionalism and reputation; consumer access to financial products and services; and regulatory barriers and enablers.
"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."
