I had a very interesting exchange of emails earlier this week from an IFA in the North West. Initially the tone of his email was a little abrasive as he chastised me for scaremongering and went to great lengths to point out that his firm had an excellent visit from the FSA last year and have fully embedded TCF. Initially I was taken aback, particularly as he insinuated that I was unprofessional and called me a "supposed assistant gamekeeper".
Before sending a response I went through a number of options. Should I simply ignore this man who simply doesn't understand me? Should I tell him where to get off and ask him to kindly mind his own business? (although attractive, I decided that this option would be a little hypocritical as I am writing a public Blog).
After much thought I realised that he may have a point. In my desire to reach the 87% of Advisers who missed the FSA's March TCF deadline, I overlooked the fact that a growing number of Firms have already made the necessary changes. In fact, some firms probably didn't need to make any changes at all. The FSA themselves expect that 80% of firms will have achieved the required standard by their December 2008 deadline. That's a higher percentage than the number of people who pass their driving test first time and oddly enough we don't name and shame the 20% of non first time passers.
So I replied to my correspondent with an apology. In my drive to reach the Firms who aren't yet up to speed I was in danger of alienating those who have. I was becoming less of a "supposed assistant gamekeeper" and more of a "supposed financial journalist" concentrating on the negatives rather than celebrating the positive work that has been done and the added customer focus that TCF has brought.
A number of emails were exchanged and I believe that from an initial shaky start I may have made a new friend? We will see what he says when he reads this!
And from all of this I have been reminded that it is not all doom and gloom. Yes, some firms still need to do a great deal of work to achieve TCF Compliance but for others the focus needs to be much more about how they can best communicate the good things they have done when the FSA get in touch.
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