Independent financial advisors have a huge opportunity to gain market share in the ultra high net worth sector in the UK following the Financial Services Authority’s Retail Distribution Review and present a big threat to private banks, said experts at this week's IEA conference on the future of private banking.

According to FT Adviser, Towry Law chief executive Andrew Fisher said the regulator had introduced the RDR to shut down an industry led by IFAs but banks that thought they would be able to do everything in the wake of the RDR were in for a shock.

Commenting on the unique position that advisors are in to offer financial services to the high net worth individuals, he said: "The minimum qualification of CFP 1, 2 and 3 may be equivalent to a CSE in woodwork, but advisors are upskilling. Private banks are not trained to give advice at all; they are just good from birth."

He also said that while the RDR would remove consumer naivety about payments: "The consumer agreed remuneration rules, will fundamentally change how clients arrange payment for advisors," he added.