Regulations, not robots, are what give financial advisors cause for concern, according to a survey.

A survey of professional advisors (67%) has found that regulatory changes in the financial sector are keeping them up at night, causing them far more angst than automation of advice and other digital challenges, according to Canada Life UK. Canada Life surveyed 328 advisors in October during its third annual survey of independent financial advisors in the UK. When asked about packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (PRIIPs) legislation for example, 44% of respondents said that they were aware of them but did not yet understand them fully, while 29% of them claimed to have not heard of them before. Further to this, 68% of respondents thought that the financial services compensation scheme (FSCS) needed reviewing and updating. It also emerged that the area of robo-advice is not a great source of concern. Only 4% classed robo-advice as a threat to their business, while 62% thought that robo-advisory services would have a minor effect on their businesses. Brexit also featured in the survey, with 38% saying that their clients had been perplexed by the UK’s imminent departure from the EU, leading 36% of them to look more at overseas opportunities to invest. When asked about their predictions for the next 12 months, advisors thought that the big area for financial planning would be retirement plans. This includes planning both for people who have already retired and those below retirement age who are planning for their retirement.