Information on financial advisers - September 2026


Reference Case Number: FOI2026_01938

Freedom of Information: Right to know request:

  1. The total number of individuals listed on the Financial Services Register who are authorised to provide financial advice, broken down by gender.
  2. If the information requested in question 1 is not available, the total number of individuals listed on the Financial Services Register, broken down by gender and by any classification showing what they are authorised to do
  3. If the information requested in questions 1 and 2 is not available, the number of individuals listed on the Financial Services Register who work for firms authorised to provide financial advice, broken down by gender.

Please provide the information for the latest 10 years, using the latest year-end date for which the FCA holds the information. If this is not possible, please provide the information for the latest five years.

If this is also not possible, please provide the data as at the latest date for which the FCA holds the information.

FCA response:

We do not hold the requested information, as we do not systematically record the gender of individuals. We hold some information on the salutations used by individuals and are responding to your questions on this basis. Please note, however, that:

  1. individuals may use a salutation that is different from their gender self-identification;
  2. there are several salutations which are gender neutral (e.g. ‘Doctor, ‘Professor’), or a role title was provided instead of a salutation (e.g. ‘Managing Partner’), and
  3. in some instances, the salutation field has been left blank.

Furthermore, please note that it is not mandatory to provide a salutation in the Directory Persons forms, and a large number of firms have not provided this information.

The data we can provide can be found in the attached Annex A and refers to individuals who hold the following Directory Persons roles/activities:

  • CPD2 - Personal recommendation on Securities (not SHP/PPP/Broker funds)
  • CPD3 - Personal recommendation on derivatives
  • CPD4 - Personal recommendation on retail investments (not broker funds)
  • CPD6 - Personal recommendation on Friendly Soc tax-exempt policies (not Holloway)
  • CPD7 - Personal recommendation on long-term care insurance
  • CPD8 - Personal recommendation on investments in corporate finance business
  • CPD12 - Personal recommendation/dealing in securities (not SHP/PPP/Broker funds)
  • CPD13 - Personal recommendation/dealing with derivatives
  • [FCA CF] Client dealing

From firms who hold the following permissions:

  • Providing basic advice on stakeholder products
  • Advising on P2P agreements
  • Advising on Pension Transfers/Opt Outs
  • Advising on investments