As a heartening testament to the increasing professionalisation of the industry, new figures from the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment show that nearly 80 per cent of UK advisors have exceeded the regulator’s new minimum qualification standard.

The Financial Services Authority’s Retail Distribution Review, which comes into force at the end of December, dictates that UK advisors be qualified at QCF Level 4 (as opposed to the minimum Level 3). But the CISI says that 79 per cent of candidates coming through its system have in fact attained Level 6 or 7, rather than settling for the minimum (3,300 of the 4,200 sitting exams).

The CISI’s September sitting of its Level 6 Certificate in Private Client Investment Advice and Management (the last before the RDR implementation) yielded a 64 per cent pass rate, with 46 of the 255 entrants attaining a merit and 17 a distinction. Additionally, the age of successful candidates ranged for 24 to 74, giving the lie to the notion that older advisors are being forced out of the industry wholesale by the new standards.