Two-thirds of advisers (66%) say they have changed their processes as a result of the FCA’s Thematic Review of Retirement Income Advice published earlier this year.

Research from financial services mutual Wesleyan suggests that the vast majority of advisers (91%) have reviewed their processes, with two-thirds of them making changes.

According to the survey, nine in 10 advisers (90%) have helped clients at or near retirement adjust their asset allocation.

The FCA announced in March it would write to the chief executives of financial advice firms, asking them to review their retirement income advice processes.

The review suggested that while there were no systemic issues in retirement income advice practices, there were pockets where practices could be improved, including approaches to determining income withdrawal and gathering information to demonstrate advice suitability.  

According to the new survey, introducing or changing advice file record-keeping was the most common modification (64%), while three in five (60%) advisers introduced or changed their client screening processes.

Some 45% of advisers have altered the way they segment their clients to offer more suitable service while a further quarter (27%) said that while they have not made changes to their processes yet, they plan to do so.

Overall, more than three quarters (78%) of advisers agreed that the thematic review has increased the industry’s focus on providing better, more suitable retirement advice.

Karen Blatchford, Wesleyan’s managing director of intermediary distribution, said: “The industry has taken the FCA’s findings seriously.

“Advisers are being diligent and acting in line with the review’s principles to make sure they’re delivering the best possible outcomes for clients. Revisiting and improving processes will also support firms’ ongoing compliance with Consumer Duty requirements.”

The research also found that nine in ten (90%) advisers have helped clients who are at or nearing retirement adjust their asset allocation in response to the FCA’s findings, with the most popular steps being to increase bonds allocation (55%), followed by decreasing equities allocation (40%).

• The findings were based on a survey of 300 UK financial advisers regulated to give advice on long-term savings, conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Wesleyan between 20-23 August.