With a few weeks to go until the UK referendum on its membership of the European Union (EU), new research conducted by NMG for the Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) has indicated a slight majority of support for remain in the referendum.
In a recent survey of advisers, 4 in 10 said that they would vote to remain in the EU, with 24 per cent saying that they would vote for Brexit and a further 26 per cent saying that they were undecided.
The same survey also found that just over a third of advisers (34 per cent) had clients that reside outside the UK but within the EU, either permanently or splitting their time between residences in the UK and elsewhere.
Chris Hannant, APFA Director-General, says: “I was interested to see the results of our survey; both the views of the financial adviser community regarding voting intentions and the high proportion of ‘undecideds’ broadly mirror the polling trends amongst the UK voting population more generally.
“Advisers deal with the outcomes and impact of policy and regulatory developments at an EU level on a daily basis on behalf of their clients. This is the case both in terms of specific regulations, such as MiFID II or PRIIPs, but also the broader consequences for financial markets. Regardless of the referendum outcome, advisers will need to ensure they have appropriate strategies in place which ensure clients (in the UK and the EU) are protected by the effects of the vote on markets in both the short- and long-term.
“I also believe that advisers will need to continue to prepare for MiFID II and PRIIPs even if the UK public decide to vote to leave. I expect an arrangement that continued to give the UK access to the single market would mean acceptance of the market harmonisation legislation.”
