9 April 2026
If you will be covering the findings from the Investment Association’s Risk Warnings Review tomorrow, please find below an embargoed comment from Steve Gazard, chief distribution officer at Quilter:
“It is vital for the personal finances of this country that we help consumers move from a culture of saving to one of investing where possible. The opportunities that the Advice Guidance Boundary Review and Targeted Support can bring, alongside the public awareness that the Retail Investment Campaign, will begin to stimulate some of that change.
“However, for those things to have a chance of succeeding in their aims, we can’t then put people off with old fashioned, static and compliance led risk warnings. This is why the work of the Risk Warnings Review from the IA is so important. These recommendations will allow the industry to move to more engaging and understandable disclosures inserted in the right place in the customer journey.
“Furthermore, we are very much now a digital first world and therefore it is as much about how risk warnings are presented to customers, as it is about what they say. This review should lead to firms having the scope to be much more creative and engaging in the ways they talk about risk, and effectively present the positives and potential drawbacks of investing and how it differs to cash saving.
“Ultimately, we are supportive of the recommendations the review has produced, and it gives practical guidance to firms to adopt, alongside ensuring a supportive regulatory environment where firms can operate with confidence. We do not see a repeat of prescribed phrases that the industry previously defaulted to.”
