As Financial News wrote a few weeks ago, unbundling is on its way and its advent is not a matter of if, but one of how and when. Either the UK financial services industry will change of its own accord, or it will be pushed into doing so by legislation.

The regulator and the Treasury want change. Part of the reason is they have seen how companies on both sides of the Atlantic have operated successfully for years on the basis of full accountability and transparency, receiving no soft dollars, with management fees their sole source of revenue.