Savers face advice confusion - FT.com Clients of some of the largest wealth management firms in the UK are left in the dark about the type of advice they will be offered when rules come into force at the end of the year. According to responses to the Financial Times" annual Wealth Management survey, Coutts and Co, Towry, Killik and Co, Barclays and Charles Stanley are among 19 major firms, still "undecided" about the breadth of advice they will offer when the Financial Services Authority (FSA) introduces new standards from January 2013. Under the long-awaited Retail Distribution Review (RDR), firms will have to declare that their advice is "restricted" or fully "independent." Those companies that advise on a limited range of product types, or use only certain product providers, will no longer be able to say they are "independent." "Firms need to clarify what type of advice they are going to be providing post-RDR," said a Which? spokesperson. "If firms choose to offer "restricted" advice, then they will need to be clear exactly how their advice is restricted and what implications this will have." Towry said it is working with legal advisers and the FSA on how to describe its fee-based business, but said clients could be reassured that the firm would continue to search the whole of the market. Coutts said it had not yet communicated its status to customers. "Firms will need to make a decision in the next few months to reduce uncertainty for clients," warned Grania Baird, partner at law firm Farrer & Co. Karen Barrett, chief executive at Unbiased.co.uk, said: "As a consumer, you need to go and ask your adviser how they will be changing their businesses to fit with the new regulations and how this will affect you."