Agata Gawin, Director of the Investment Firms Department at the UKNF, spoke at the panel ‘Future trends in the market of investment advisory services in upcoming years’ as part of the 3rd Forum of Independent Fund Distributors 2026.

In her speech, she discussed, inter alia, proposed solutions concerning the business of distributors and investment advisory services, the role of compliance function, and topics related to the open architecture of financial instrument distribution.

New possibilities of carrying on business and providing advisory services

Agata Gawin pointed out that proposed solutions provided for the possibility for distributors to choose between dependent and independent advisory services. She also referred to the possibility of establishing a separate entity as a provider of independent investment advisory services exclusively. As she stated, such solutions covered a wide range of financial instruments: not only participation units but also shares, bonds, and covered bonds.

Importance of transparency and limitation of conflicts of interest

In the case of independent advisory services, it will be of key importance to ensure a sufficiently wide range of instruments and to limit conflicts of interest, in particular in relation to remuneration model and product recommendations for clients. ‘An important element of proposed solutions is transparency in relations with a client and making sure that the client is aware of the nature of the service being provided and the consequences of transactions they enter into,’ Agata Gawin said.

Role of compliance function in ensuring operational safety

Agata Gawin also referred to the role of compliance function in investment firms. She emphasised that employees responsible for compliance operated in the context of various expectations: from the sales department, the management board, and the supervisory authority. As she emphasised, ‘the role of compliance function is, first and foremost, to identify and mitigate risk and to ensure operational safety’.

Later in her contribution, she referred to the importance of open architecture of distribution. Proposed solutions may enable distributors to cooperate with a larger number of investment firms and, consequently, provide clients with broader access to various investment instruments. ‘The new regulations are supposed to create the possibility of carrying on business, while leaving market participants the choice of cooperation model and of the manner in which services are provided,’ Agata Gawin said.