Now Meet MAPS! – Advice Or Guidance?

So, from my blog a couple of weeks ago we have now moved forward, not necessarily on greater clarification of advice, guidance, provision of rich information or content on determining the watermark between advice and guidance! However, what we do have is clarification on a name.

The Single Financial Guidance Body (SFGB), an organisation which you will remember was an amalgamation of The Money Advice Service, The Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise, which housed a variety of functions, including input into the industry Pensions Dashboard project. This august body now has been rechristened The Money and Pensions Service (so presumably MAPS!) Good to see the word advice has been removed to avoid confusion for consumers and those fintech’s building a variety of consumer facing propositions including API’s etc.

This organisation is funded by levies on both the financial services industry and pension schemes, it is sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and will also engage with HM Treasury, which is responsible for policy on financial capability and debt advice.

In essence, hopefully the amalgamation of Pension Wise, The Money Advice Service and the Pensions Advisory Service into a single financial guidance body should make it easier for individuals to understand and access information and guidance on a range of financial subjects without being under the misapprehension that there is any advice being given or taken.

Presumably MAPS will give people a sense of direction or a nudge in the right direction for solutions to individual consumer’s needs. There may well also be signposts between MAPS and the industry as to how people find regulated advice should they need it or to understand the difference between guidance, simple information and regulated advice.