The regulator says it will not implement AIFA's call for a "major overhaul" of adviser levies until further consultation, which will not see any changes introduced until 2011/12.
This consultation comes as the overall drop in fees for IFAs for the year 2010/11 compared to the previous year is not as high as originally estimated.
The FSA has reallocated £1.34m from the B fee-block (encompassing exchanges and clearing houses) to certain A fee-blocks including A13 which is mainly IFAs. Their allocated Annual Funding Requirement (AFR) will increase from original forecasts of £40.2m to £40.6m. This means their decrease in fees compared to 2009/10 is only 7.2% compared to initial proposals of 8%.
Aifa says this year the cost per adviser has increased by between 2% and 9% over the consultative rates for IFAs not holding and holding client money respectively. Fees for A12 have increased from £392.71 to £426.35 and for A13 from £1266.95 to £1290.54.
The hike, says Aifa, is due to a combination of a further increase in funding requirements - which has seen A12 and A13 increase from a consultative £26.1m and £40.2m to £26.4m and £40.6m - combined with a reduction in adviser numbers.
According to the trade body, the number of approved investment advisers on A12 and A13 has reduced from 68,663 and 38,544 to 61,164 and 38,029 respectively.
AIFA has been campaigning for a shake-up of the FSA's overall cost allocation and fee-block structure for advisers, arguing fees should be based on the proportion of revenues receive relative to product providers.
The trade body calculates intermediaries represent 2% of industry revenues while they are paying 28% of the FSA's AFR. Since the 12 April 2010, when its fees consultation ended, the FSA says it has had contact from 58 intermediaries supporting AIFA's proposals.
But the FSA says it will not overhaul the system until proper consultation has been carried out because the proposed changes impact on sectors other than intermediaries.
AIFA proposed an interim change for 2010-2011 but the FSA this cannot be implemented as it has to start collecting fees in June.
"However, we will look at their proposition and the data they supplied in their
response, seek to reconcile them and consider whether there is a case for altering our
methodology for 2011/12," it says.
Despite no chnange being put in place this year, Aifa policy director Andrew Strange gave his approval to the FSA's stance.
"Yes, we would like a solution immediately but this is the start of a journey of fairness for IFAs," he says. "I am pleased we have a public commitment - it is no mean feat to get the FSA to make a public commitment for the way fees are charged."
The FSA adds it will report back on the outcome of this assessment in the October/November fees policy consultation paper.
Meanwhile, the regulator confirmed its annual funding requirement for the year 2010/11 is set to increase by nearly 10%.
The regulator's funding for the year is 454.7m, a 9.9% increase from the 2009/10 figure of £413.8m. But the FSA says the introduction of a fairer fee structure will result in 60% of firms paying less.
The increased cost of "intensive supervision" will fall on larger firms and those requiring more regulation, it says.
Furthermore, says the FSA, fee increases have been minimised by concentrating on essential areas of work including delivery of the credible deterrence philosophy, the policy reform programme - driven by the Turner Review - which forms the FSA's response to the financial crisis and delivery of the wider agenda mandated by the EU.
The regulator say the fee will "enable us to fund the resources required to meet our strategic objectives, as set out in the summary 2010/11 business plan included in CP10/5, to mitigate the risks identified in our Financial Risk Outlook".
