Cream at the Top?

1965: Life at the Top - Kotcheff

Many Financial Advisers got somewhat hot under the collar this week, many unleashing venomous attacks on two rather large targets. The first being the now departed head of the FSA, Hector Sants. The second was the MAS (Money Advice Service) paid for from fees levied to financial advisers, yet who seem to promote the notion that advice is free and that their definition of “independent” financial advice is out of line with the rules, although the Advertising Standards Authority do not think that this is a problem. You may have seen the television adverts. The website is meant to be an educational information service about financial services in general and I often refer people to it to have a look at some of the information which can be quite good.

However, in these days when the performance of CEOs is being examined, many are somewhat angry about the level of remuneration for perceived failure. Advisers have been outraged by the published salaries (p18) for these organisations, who often appear to suggest that advisers are the ones ripping off the public, yet seem to pay themselves very considerable salaries for roles which might be described as attempting to protect and educate the public. Martin Lewis waded into the Treasury Select Sub Committee’s inquiry into the MAS, saying that it was not very good (his words were rather blunter). Indeed even Lord Turner seems to believe that MAS is not terribly effective, yet it’s CEO Tony Hobman is paid over £350,000 a year (£250,000 salary with the balance as other benefits). Mr Sants earned £835,731 as the highest paid Director of the FSA (Lord Turner was paid £500,474 for his role at the FSA in 2012). Given that all these people work for the country in State Institutions it is interesting to note that our Prime Minister currently earns £142,500. I have no idea if these salaries are value for money, I'm not in a position to assess individual performance. However clearly some very valid questions are being asked and sadly, a few own goals appear to be being scored all around.