Investment consultants now play an active role in the UK wealth management sector as both the makeup of the PAM Awards Judging Panel and thewealthnet’s Top Investment Consultants demonstrate.

Unfortunately, however, it is impossible to hazard an opinion about the impact of investment consultants on the development of the UK wealth management sector, especially when it comes to promoting good client outcomes. Definitive studies on the subject, if they exist at all, are few and far between.

But if the findings of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Asset Management Market Study are anyth...