It's been a great opportunity to meet advisers and discuss some of the issues that are a concern at the moment.

Some themes have come up time and again, such as regulation and how well - or otherwise - banks are complying with it.

There's a definite feeling that there's one standard for banks and another for advisers. Kensington Swan's David Ireland said that was not the case - and that a QFE is currently being evaluated in much the same way that advisers have had monitoring visits. But he said the perception that banks are getting an easier time may have arisen because while QFEs had their systems and processes examined when they were signed off for QFE status, a lot of advisers are retrospectively being brought up to FAA standard.

It's something that Good Returns will be delving into in more depth over the coming weeks.

The FMA's chief executive, Sean Hughes, addressed the conference on its first day and told advisers that they needed to dob in industry participants who weren't adhering to regulations and standards. That's caused consternation from a few commentators on Good Returns who wonder if the regulator is asking them to do its job for it. 

Hughes' comments follow a speech earlier in the week in which he said investors needed to be encouraged to take more responsibility for their decisions. How much you place the decision in a client's hands seems to be up for debate. At a mortgage workshop I attended today, advisers said they were loathe to give customers clear direction on what they should do - instead preferring to offer a host of good options. I wondered whether an unintended consequence of regulation was that advisers' clients now get less of the advice they may be seeking, because advisers are too concerned about the repercussions of getting it wrong.

In other news, the provider of the default disputes resolution scheme has been implicated in the latest ACC breach but says advisers shouldn't worry about the security of their data, Fidelity won't be taking TOWER's salaried life insurance sales force, and two former BT staffers have set up their own funds management business.

There's also a lot of mortgage news about and we have some news on the people front.

The PAA announces the winners of its annual awards this evening. Congratulations to all the winners - and come and say hi at the after party!