90% of advisers are confident about the future of their business, one year on from the onset of the Retail Development Review (RDR), research from the SimplyBiz Group has found.

Of the 350 advisers that were surveyed, 80% said that the implementation of the RDR had affected their business, with nine in 10 advisers bullish about the future of their business.

SimplyBiz saw very little drop off in adviser numbers at the turn of the year (a 2% reduction in members against industry figures of 15-25%) and most seem to have adopted to the new way of working, it said: only 12% of advisers said that feedback from clients with regards to new remuneration models had been negative.

With regards to permissions, 83% of those surveyed indicated that they had not changed in the last year, nor did they foresee any changes in the future. SimplyBiz said it would seem that the RDR has done little to change advisers’ status – with only 6% of advisers offering a restricted model.

80% of advisers said that they received their initial adviser charge as a percentage of the amount invested for retail investment products, with 61% taking a percentage of funds under management as their ongoing service. Of this, nearly a third – 32% indicated previous trail commission.

Matt Timmins, joint managing director, said: “From speaking to advisers in the field, there is a defiant air of optimism almost across the board, which is echoed in our survey results. Advisers have always been resilient and most have taken the changes brought about by the RDR in their stride and are seeing an increase in business as a result.

“We were particularly interested to see that the majority of advisers are keen to remain directly authorised in the ‘New World’. These statistics have also been supported by our current recruitment activity within the group – with over 80% of applicants now coming from networks.”

Marketing director Richard Ardron added: “Whilst advisers remain bullish about the future of their firms, it is clear that there is a trade-off between profitability and workload. The issue of maintaining revenue whilst operating in an efficient manner was a strong concern for many advisers.

“As a result, SimplyBiz will continue to develop and launch a number of added-value initiatives for members, whilst exploring new areas to assist advisers in generating valuable new income streams, such as auto-enrolment.”