Money Marketing
22 March 2006

  • 50K increase on IHT threshold

    22 Mar 2006

    Chancellor Gordon Brown has said he will increase the inheritance tax threshold from 275,000 to 325,000 over the next four years.He says this will ensure that 94 per cent of estates are exempt from IHT.

  • Abbey - 10 Year Fixed Rate

    22 Mar 2006

    Abbey10 Year Fixed Rate

  • AITC says UK Reits could be stillborn

    23 Mar 2006

    Chancellor Gordon Brown has placed new restrictions on UK-based real estate investment trusts, with the Association of Investment Trust Companies warning that they may be stillborn.UK Reits can now be held in Isas but maximum gearing levels have been reduced from 2.5 to 1.25 times, the distribution rate for net profits has fallen from 95 per cent to 90 per cent and a conversion charge of 2 per cent will be levied on gross assets for property funds wanting to convert to Reit status. ...

  • Alexander Hall considers legal action against BBC

    22 Mar 2006

    Alexander Hall has threatened legal action against the BBC after a damning documentary last night.

  • Alliance merger would bring UK's biggest investment trust

    23 Mar 2006

    The Alliance and Second Alliance investment trusts want to merge to create the UK's bigg- est generalist investment trust with net assets of 2.77bn.The merger would put F&C's 2.6bn trust in second place in the UK by assets under management and the boards of the two trusts are pushing it as a logical extension of the close relationship between the two trusts, with shareholders expected to support the move.The two trusts first came together in 1920 with different managers and ...

  • Altmann says Government is acting like a dictatorship

    23 Mar 2006

    Independent pension cons- ultant Dr Ros Altmann has accused the Government of acting like a dictatorship.She is calling for IFAd to rally against the Government and write to their local MPs to demand why the financial services industry has to abide by one set of rules while the Government can pick and choose what applies to it.Altmann says it is wrong for the Government to state it had not given individual financial advice through its official publications as it was endorsing ...

  • AMI rapped over failure to support equity-release body

    23 Mar 2006

    The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries has been criticised for failing to support the formation of an equity-release trade body.Equity Release Advisory Service head Stuart Wilson says he cannot understand why the AMI and Aifa, which has set up an equity-release working group to help lobby the Government, are not backing the initiative despite support from providers and other brokers.Wilson says: "There is momentum across the industry from all stakeholders to get intermediaries ...

  • Assureweb offers new "Quick Apply' service

    24 Mar 2006

    Assureweb has launched a Quick Apply menu proposition aimed at simplifying electronic new business.The new menu offers advisers a service giving them links to provider extranets in one place and is subdivided depending on financial products.Assureweb director of sales and marketing Stephen Wynne-Jones says: Acting on direct feedback from our users we are in the process of putting into place a series of accessibility improvements over the next six months, in order to make applying ...

  • Aviva will remain friendly but may have to sweeten the Pru proposal

    22 Mar 2006

    Aviva still maintains its merger bid made to the Prudential will remain friendly but has been forced to clarify that he has not ruled out sweetening its offer.

  • Aviva withdraws Pru bid

    24 Mar 2006

    The Aviva £17bn bid for the Prudential has been withdrawn after the Pru board rejected the proposal last week.Aviva says it would not progress with the proposal without the co-operation of the Pru. Aviva says it is not in the best interests of the shareholders to make any material adjustments to its proposed terms.

  • Axa reviews protection rates

    24 Mar 2006

    Axa has reviewed its rates on its protection portfolio range offering average reductions of around 3 per cent.

  • Axa UK group chief executive Dennis Holt retires

    24 Mar 2006

    Axa UK group chief executive Dennis Holt will retire from his role by the end of June 2006.

  • B&B offers online mortgage processing via Exchange

    23 Mar 2006

    Bradford & Bingley has joined forces with The Exchange to offer online processing for mortgage advisers.The Exchange's parent group Vertex has been working with B&B for two years to develop the system - the first time that the building society has joined forces with an external service provider.B&B believes the service will also help its mortgage advisers sell protection products by matching them with clients' requirements.The Exchange's online trading platform is used by ...

  • Bank of Ireland chief to retire

    24 Mar 2006

    Bank of Ireland (Isle of Man) chief executive Roly Alden will be retiring at the end of the month after 38 years in the industry.

  • Black day for Mona

    23 Mar 2006

    The IMA's Mona Patel is hobbling about on crutches after a skiing accident.Patel told Money Marketing that she was on a black mogul run when her cruciate ligament snapped in half. It had to be reconstructed using her hamstrings.

  • Brown announces plans for financial stability alert system

    22 Mar 2006

    Chancellor Gordon Brown's tenth annual budget announced a new memorandum of understanding between the FSA, the Bank of England and the Treasury which he says will allow it to create the most up to date early warning response system to threats against financial stability.

  • Brown frown downs NPSS

    23 Mar 2006

    Paul McMillan finds pension campaigner Frank Field backing a universal scheme to convince the Chancellor

  • Brown offers hope for first time buyers

    22 Mar 2006

    Chancellor Gordon Brown has announced he is allocating 970m pounds for shared equity schemes to help 35,000 first time buyers get a first step on the housing ladder.The Housing Minister is inviting stakeholders to offer shared equity schemes.

  • Brown rejects Tory suggestions for new fiscal rule

    22 Mar 2006

    Gordon Brown has rejected Tories plans for a new fiscal rule pledging the Government would ensure public spending and investment would rise slower than economic growth. The Chancellor claimed it would have a disasterous effect on investment in the Country's future.

  • Brown takes foot off VCT accelerator

    23 Mar 2006

    Attractiveness of trusts will be reduced significantly

  • Budget announces plans for new financial stability alert system

    22 Mar 2006

    Chancellor Gordon Brown's tenth annual budget announced a new memorandum of understanding between the FSA, the Bank of England and the Treasury which he says will allow it to create the most up to date early warning response system to threats against financial stability.

  • Cameron gets personal with Brown

    22 Mar 2006

    David Cameron continued his personal assaults on the Chancellor attacking Brown as an analogue politician in a digital age.

  • Cameron onslaught at 'man from past'

    23 Mar 2006

    Tory leader David Cameron has launched his fiercest personal attack yet on the Chancellor, describing him as an "analogue politician in a digital age".Cameron said Brown was a politician "completely stuck in the past" and claimed the Chancellor was a "supercharged bookmaker" mortgaging the country's future and raising the tax burden and Government borrowing to record levels.He slammed Brown's record on pensions, including means-testing, and highlighted last week's Parliamentary ...

  • Capita Financial Administrators fined by FSA

    27 Mar 2006

    Capita Financial Administrators has been fined 300,000 by the FSA.

  • Cause for complaint at watchdog

    23 Mar 2006

    I would not presume to debate points of law but it seems to me that the lawyers have done their usual and concentrated on the detail rather than on the broader picture with regard to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

  • 'Chancellor has torpedoed NPSS'

    23 Mar 2006

    Adair Turner's proposals have been torpedoed by the Chancellor's decision to slash 5 per cent off the Department for Work and Pensions' budget, leaving it no cash to run the nat- ional pension savings scheme, says Standard Life head of pension policy John Lawson.He says the comprehensive spending review outlined in the Budget will simply not leave enough staff or money to set up the NPSS. Turner said his plans will cost around 1.2bn in set-up charges.The Chancellor wants departmental ...

  • Chancellor pushes risk based regulation

    22 Mar 2006

    Chancellor Gordon Brown stressed the need for risk based regulation but said it will only work if the rest of Europe follows suit. He said the Government will approach the European Council shortly to discuss this matter.

  • Child Trust Funds to be repeated at 7

    22 Mar 2006

    Children will be given a second Child Trust Fund contribution at seven years old of 250 and 500 for low-income families.

  • Close set to move into mortgages

    23 Mar 2006

    Close Brothers is going ahead with the launch of a mortgage lending operation.It is refusing to comment on growing speculation that it has decided to push ahead with the new arm after a three-month strategic review into the proposition ended earlier this year.A source close to the venture has told Money Marketing that the new proposition, which is likely to be named Close Mortgages, has been given the go-ahead internally.Close Mortgages was registered with Companies House ...

  • CML attacks 5k rise on stamp duty

    23 Mar 2006

    The Chancellor has come under fire for raising the stamp duty exemption level by a miserly 5,000 to 125,000.The CML says the increase will not even make up for the rise in house prices in the last year so more homebuyers will be hit by the tax, not less.Brokers say the rise does very little to help first-time buyers, particularly those in the South.Purely Mortgages chief executive Mark Chilton says: "Brown should raise the top rate marginally and allow nothing to be paid ...

  • Consultation on workplace advice

    23 Mar 2006

    The Chancellor has announced a consultation into the promotion of financial advice in the workplace to review whether to relax the rules to allow employers, not regulated by the FSA, to promote pension schemes and other products.

  • Conventional wisdom

    23 Mar 2006

    Compliance expert Adam Samuel believes there is a barrage against human rights in financial services

  • Correspondent's week

    23 Mar 2006

    This week by The Mail on Sunday finance writer Helen Loveless

  • Court rejects Class Law splits' claim

    23 Mar 2006

    The High Court has thrown out a misselling legal suit brought by Class Law on behalf of 73 split-capital investors against 11 firms, including Brewin Dolphin and Gerrard.The suit is thought to have included IFAs but Class Law only named stockbrokers.Solicitors say most of the 73 investors are likely to take the 50p in the 1 compensation offered by FDL, the firm set up in December 2004 to compensate split-cap investors.However, at the hearing, the claimants' counsel said ...

  • Crackdown on Asps over fears of abuse by advisers

    23 Mar 2006

    The Government is clamping down on the use of alternative secured pensions because it believes advisers might have abused the plans for people who did not have religious objections to annuities.Chancellor Gordon Brown says the move will increase Asp exposure to inheritance tax in certain circumstances. Any leftover funds not used to provide benefits to a dep-endant will face an IHT bill on the death of the scheme member.Scottish Equitable pensions development director Stewart ...

  • Death knell for Turner's national savings scheme

    23 Mar 2006

    The Pension Commission's national pension savings scheme proposal looks lik- ely to be dismissed by the Government following the damning Parliamentary Ombudsman report.Advisers believe that the Government will have little support or appetite to set up a national savings sch- eme as proposed by Lord Turner, following the rejection of pension compensation payouts called for by Parliamentary Ombudsman Ann Abraham.Syndaxi Financial Planning managing director Robert Reid says Turner's ...

  • Deficits plunge as FTSE rises

    23 Mar 2006

    Pension gap closes by a third as index continues its rise but notes of caution are being sounded for the future

  • Diversify or stick with speciality?

    23 Mar 2006

    Some fear that brokers could be diluting their expertise, says Guy Anker

  • Divorced over pensions

    23 Mar 2006

    This week, I am continuing to look at topical pension issues and themes from my past few articles relating to the interaction of state and private pensions in different circumstances. Here, I will examine pension rights following separation or divorce and I am going to use my own personal situation as an example.We have a married couple - Stuart and Jane - who have separated due to an irretrievable breakdown in their relationship. Stuart is 50 years of age and is now retired after ...

  • Double up for PTA key facts

    23 Mar 2006

    The FSA will be issuing two versions of the key facts documents for pension term assurance for advisers regulated under Cob and Icob.Royal Liver says having two sets of key facts could confuse advisers who could download the wrong document.IFA market manager Andy Milburn says Icob rules require a "key facts" document featuring the FSA logo and the Cob version "key features of the pension term assurance".Milburn says: "Providers will end up having two identical version of ...

  • Downing Corporate Finance - Northern 2 VCT Top Up

    22 Mar 2006

    Downing Corporate FinanceNorthern 2 VCT Top Up

  • Dragon up the past

    23 Mar 2006

    In these politically correct times, perhaps it is slightly bad form for Gartmore to pick St Patrick's Day to send out its invitations for its annual St George's Day quiz night.It could have been an over-sight or maybe a little bit of fun but it is hard not to equate the tactics with the usual pub bore bemoaning the day of Irish celebrations by asking the tired and irrelevant question of why we don't celebrate as much on the day allocated to the English patron saint.

  • Dual strategy for Close funds

    23 Mar 2006

    Close Investment Services is launching six multi-asset, multi-manager funds, which it says will offer investors affordable access to its discretionary investment management team.The Close discretionary strategy funds will be avail- able from March 16 and offer two core investment strategies - progressive and dynamic - each of which will offer dollar, sterling and euro-denomin- ated share classes.The progressive strategy is a more cautious portfolio placing equal importance on ...

  • DWP won't bear the bill

    23 Mar 2006

    The Government has rej- ected the Parliamentary Ombudsman's calls to compensate 85,000 workers who lost their pensions.Ombudsman Ann Abraham found the Government guilty on three main counts of maladministration in her long-awaited report but ministers say responsibility for pensioners' losses falls on the companies involved. Compensation demands are thought to be as high as 15bn.Abraham says the Department for Work and Pensions' failure to tell scheme members of the risks of ...

  • Economy set to grow to 2.5 per cent

    23 Mar 2006

    The Chancellor said the UK is entering its tenth year of uninterrupted growth with the economy to grow by 2 per cent to 2.5 per cent in 2006/7. Growth in 2007-08 is expected to be between 2.75 per cent and 3.5 per cent, while domestic demand is expected to grow this year by 2 per cent to 2.5 per cent.

  • European finance providers fail to target online audience

    23 Mar 2006

    Marketing chiefs are missing an opportunity, with 59% of consumers alerted to new financial products online

  • Food for thought

    23 Mar 2006

    For years, we have been asked not to abbreviate the Financial Services Authority's name to the FSA when written on business cards and the like. It makes sense to follow this guidance or when reading missives from the organisation, the less aware reader could in fact be reading information about the other FSA - the Foods Standards Agency.

  • Friends ties with West Brom for protection

    24 Mar 2006

    Friends Provident has announced a single-tie distribution deal with West Bromwich Building Society on its suite of protection products.

  • FSA and OFT join forces

    22 Mar 2006

    The FSA and the OFT have joined forces to produce an action plan designed to stamp out dual regulation. The two bodies are working together to produce a consolidated set of rules where their responsibilities overlap, such as on Payment Protection Insurance and advertising. They will also work more closely on enforcement. In April 2006 the FSA will consult on a change to its rules so that advertisements subject to dual regulation need contain only one risk warning. A feasibility ...

  • FSA and OFT move to cut dual regulation

    23 Mar 2006

    The FSA is to collaborate with the OFT to produce an action plan this April to cut red tape by reducing dual regulation for firms regulated by both organisations. It will include working more closely together on the sale of payment protection insurance and enforcing advertising rules.

  • FSA consults on allowing direct marketing of funds of hedge funds

    23 Mar 2006

    The FSA is to consult next year on widening the range of funds that can be marketed to retail investors to include new authorised funds of hedge funds.

  • FSA publishes feedback on hedge fund risks

    24 Mar 2006

    The IMA says the FSA's decision to consult on allowing funds of hedge funds to be made available to retail investors is good news.

  • FSA wants return of providers' subsidies

    23 Mar 2006

    The FSA wants a radical shake-up of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme which would effectively revive the product providers' subsidy, raising hopes that adviser fees will fall.The regulator favours a scheme where providers and advisers are placed in the same levy groups for the same business class, such as mortgages, investments and pensions.It also wants to allow a call on the whole regulated ind- ustry if catastrophic losses occur in one sector.The FSA sets out ...

  • FSA's guaranteed double standards

    23 Mar 2006

    Advisers are accusing FSA chairman Callum McCarthy of double standards for defending the regulator's use of the word guaranteed in communication with occupational scheme members.The Parliamentary Ombudsman report, which last week recommended compensation for people in failed occupational schemes, says the independent pension trustees argued the term "guaranteed" should not have been used by the regulator or only with clear qualifications. Ombudsman Ann Abraham's report says that ...

  • FTBs facing struggle despite 970m help

    23 Mar 2006

    The Government's promise to help first-time buyers with a 970m cash injection could prove a false dawn, warns Alliance & Leicester head of intermediary mortgages Mehrdad Yousefi.Chancellor Gordon Brown promised this week that the extra money will enable 35,000 FTBs to get on the housing ladder but Yousefi says the Open Market Homebuy scheme only has three lenders on board so many FTBs will not benefit.Only Halifax, Nationwide and Yorkshire building soc- ieties are part of the ...

  • FundsNetwork makes two new appointments

    24 Mar 2006

    FundsNetwork has appointed former Skandia chief Simon Burgess as head of sales, and Stuart Meiklejohn from Prudential as head of proposition development. The move means Rob Fisher has been moved to the newly created role of head of marketing and propositions for the platform. Head of FundsNetwork David Dalton-Brown says: "Only by recruiting and developing the most talented people in the industry can we continue to develop top-quality products and services for advisers and their clients."

  • Gartmore sticks with the bricks

    23 Mar 2006

    Gartmore's multi-manager team will only invest in UK property portfolios comprising bricks and mortar even when Reits are eventually introduced.

  • Ge Life launches money back protection on enhanced annuities

    27 Mar 2006

    Ge Life is launching money back protection on enhanced annuities for clients up to the age of 75.

  • Great expectations

    23 Mar 2006

    SimplyBiz managing director Ian Thorneycroft will be donning his walking boots in support of cancer charity Macmillan as he heads to China in October for 10 days to walk The Great Wall.He is joining a group of other walkers to support sufferers of the disease and their families, having recently lost his mother- in-law to the illness.He has reached nearly half his target of 10,000, already raising 4,300 in sponsorship. F&C has donated 750 to his cause. Those interested in spons-oring ...

  • Growth expected to be 2 to 2.5 per cent in 2006

    22 Mar 2006

    Economic growth in 2006 is expected to be between 2 and 2.5 per cent in 2006 according to the Chancellor Gordon Brown in today's budget.Brown predicts the rate to rise to between 2.75 and 3.25 per cent in 2007 and 2008.

  • HBOS set for move into second-charge market

    23 Mar 2006

    HBOS will make an aggressive push into the second-charge market later this year in a bid to push the sector into the mainstream and slash rates.Managing director of intermediaries Nigel Stockton, who insists that mortgage brokers will form a major part of its distribution, says the firm is waiting to get its technology proposition right before announcing a launch date for the venture.HBOS says it is confident that it will find enough distributors but brokers have questioned ...

  • Henderson bounces back

    23 Mar 2006

    Henderson has seen an improvement in the performance of its multi-manager range since Bill McQuaker took over last July.

  • Henderson pulls out of Gartmore chase

    23 Mar 2006

    Henderson has ruled itself out of the chase for Gartmore after announcing it is set is set to distribute its 200m warchest to shareholders.The fund manager says its assessment of the potential acquisition found the deal would have been a good strategic fit but it could not agree terms. Hendersons will now distribute its 200m surplus capital to shareholders over the course of 2006.

  • Highly charged

    23 Mar 2006

    I found myself in agreement with much of Paul Farrow's article relating to Sterling Isa commission. The easy way to deal with this is to get comparative quotes from Sterling and, say, Skandia, and/or any other multi-fund/platform provider, with identical fund choices and anticipated growth rates. The difference at the end of 10 years will reflect not only the commission paid on the contracts but also the additional cost of a capital guarantee offered in the Sterling product. Any ...

  • Hips sliding away

    23 Mar 2006

    A high failure rate among candidates in the first exam for home inspectors has raised further concerns over whether home condition reports can really be brought in by June next year, reports Nicola York

  • HMRC proposes changes to eligibility rules for establishing a pension scheme

    24 Mar 2006

    Proposed changes to the eligibility rules for establishing a pension scheme have been announced by the Revenue.

  • Holmes truths

    23 Mar 2006

    I am probably one of a decrea-sing number of people of sufficient vintage to remember Clive Holmes' great contribution to the insurance industry as the founder of the LIA and can personally attest to his incredible enthusiasm and almost evangelical promotion of life insurance. For some unaccountable reason, we seem to have succumbed to the iconoclastic onslaughts of mendacious columnists, so-called consumer protection groups and pinhead politicians, all of whom have not the slightest ...

  • HSBC enters equity release market

    22 Mar 2006

    HSBC will become the first high street name to launch into the equity release market when it begins its push later this week.

  • HSBC tests out equity release

    23 Mar 2006

    HSBC is the first high-street name to move into the equity-release market.The banking giant will initially act as an introducer to provider In Retirement Services in a pilot scheme. It has not set a date for the trial to end and says it will decide whether to launch its own products when it feels it has gauged demand.HSBC will begin by writing to 200,000 customers and will use 50 branches where staff can introduce customers to IRS.Barclays, HBOS and Nationwide have all been ...

  • Hutton brings forward review of FAS

    23 Mar 2006

    The Government has pledged to bring forward its review of the Financial Assistance Scheme.It also says it will provide Parliament with evidence to back its claim that compensating 85,000 workers who lost their pensions, as demanded by Parliamentary Ombudsman Ann Abraham, would cost the taxpayer up to 17bn.Addressing Parliament last week, Work and Pensions Sec- retary John Hutton said that a review of the FAS, scheduled as part of next year's Government spending review, will ...

  • Instant underwriting

    23 Mar 2006

    With more complex and lengthy forms, the only clear way forward is to automate underwriting

  • Investec hires new head of marketing

    24 Mar 2006

    Investec Asset Management has appointed Sarah McLeland as head of marketing.

  • Investment View: Volatility set for comeback

    23 Mar 2006

    There seems no sign of any let-up in the level of corporate activity. As last week was drawing to a close, the FTSE 100 index broke through the 6,000 barrier and Isa sales are the most buoyant they have been for years. Is the public once again piling on board just as the music is about to stop playing?

  • JO Hambro Capital Management -JOHCM Continental Select Values Fund

    22 Mar 2006

    JO Hambro Capital ManagementJOHCM Continental Select Values Fund

  • JO Hambro's success story

    23 Mar 2006

    I believe that J O Hambro Capital Management is the only UK fund manager that has all of its funds currently, as at February 28 2006, in the top quartile since launch.

  • Kensington moves to repackage fees

    23 Mar 2006

    Kensington Mortgages has altered its fee structure after criticism from mortgage packagers but is still under attack from some firms.Professional Mortgage Packagers' Alliance operations director Jon O'Brien says he is pleased that Kensington has bowed to pressure by raising its fees for packagers but is disappointed that it is not treating all packagers the same.Kensington is remaining tight-lipped about its exact change of price structure although O'Brien says it has introduced ...

  • Keydata loses 150k on property product

    23 Mar 2006

    Keydata is thought to have spent at least 150,000 on the failed launch of a property product with former IFA Graham Bates last year.The Keydata residential property limited partnership was set up last April with the aim of raising 10m but it is understood to have raised just 3m-4m and was withdrawn.Keydata returned investors' money and let IFAs keep the 3 per cent commission on the product, totalling 120,000 to honour its commitment.On top of the cost of design and marketing, ...

  • Lambert is new CBI boss

    23 Mar 2006

    Former editor of the Financial Times and Monetary Policy Committee member Richard Lambert is to become the new CBI director general.Lambert, who was chosen out of an initial short list of 700, will take over from current director general Digby Jones in July and steps down from his MPC role with immediate effect. Lambert says: The role of the CBI has never been more important as business, and Britain, faces up to the new challenges of the 21st century at home and abroad.

  • Leeds launches new fixed rate mortgage range

    27 Mar 2006

    Leeds Building Society is launching a new 10-year fixed rate mortgage range.

  • Leeds launches new offset mortgage

    24 Mar 2006

    Leeds Building Society has launched a new fee free 3-year fixed rate offset mortgage.

  • Lehman Brothers set to complete hat-trick of mortgage buys

    24 Mar 2006

    Lehman Brothers is expected to snap-up the London Mortgage Company in the next few weeks.

  • Lifelink opts for The Exchange

    27 Mar 2006

    Lifelink Mortgage Services has selected The Exchanges Exweb broker portal to support its directly authorised mortgage adviser offering.

  • Lighthouse is back in profit

    23 Mar 2006

    Lighthouse Group made a profit of 472,000 last year in a turn-round from 2004's loss of 797,000.The company's operating costs rose by 800,000 from 7.7m to 8.5m, which it attributes to the integration of brands and the purchase of Sipp administrator Carrwood which was bought in December 2005.It expects running costs to increase further this year due to the Carrwood acquisition.The group's turnover leapt by 23 per cent from 26.5m in 2004 to 32.6m. Gross profit increased by ...

  • Long-dated gilt issues up

    22 Mar 2006

    Long-dated 50-year gilts will rise from just under 50 per cent to just under two thirds of government gilt issues in the future says the Chancellor Gordon Brown.

  • Losing my religion over the Asp

    23 Mar 2006

    Having been involved with the lobby for annuity change over the years, the news that the alternatively secured pension may be restricted by religion has a distinct feeling of d? vu.When the Asp was first announced, had we known that religious grounds could produce planning opportunities, we might have moved to alter our leanings there and then.But how will the Government determine our religious beliefs? As a child, attendance at Sunday school on a regular basis resulted in a ...

  • M&G chief to seek out Pru opportunities

    23 Mar 2006

    M&G chief executive Gary Shaughnessy is joining parent group Prudential in a move that has prompted an overhaul of the fund manager's management structure.Shaughnessy is joining new Pru chief executive Nick Prettejohn's UK and European executive management committee and will review the Pru product range to looking at new opportunities.He will be replaced by M&G International chief executive William Nott and the management of M&G's UK and International businesses will be streamlined ...

  • MAB aims to diversify into investments

    23 Mar 2006

    The Mortgage Advice Bureau is planning on branching out into pensions and investments by setting up a multi-tie or independent adviser arm.It is finalising plans for the venture and has hired Kings-wood Law to advise them on the proposition. The venture will be called MAB Private Finance and could also see the broker selling equity release.MAB is an appointed representative of Legal & General but is applying to become directly authorised.It is likely to add pensions and ...

  • Make the transition

    23 Mar 2006

    The IFP has a clear focus as to its activity. On one hand, it is educating the consumer and practitioner about finan-cial planning and helping advisers at all levels to apply the knowledge they have acquired up to, and through, the level of Certified Financial Planner Licensee.

  • Mark Ommanney to leave Personal Finance Society

    28 Mar 2006

    Mark Ommanney is leaving the Personal Finance Society at the end of March. On a temporary basis the duties of PFS chief executive will be filled by CII deputy director general Bob Bullivant.PFS president Brian Steeples says: "We are grateful to Mark for the work which he has done in bringing together the merger of LIA and SOFA, and we wish him every success in the future.

  • Mike Morrison

    23 Mar 2006

    Winterthur Life's pensions strategy manager believes the A-Day regime will take up to three years to settle in and that, instead of a revolution, the whole process has been watered down. He says the answer is to put finance on the school curriculum. Interview by Philip Scott

  • Misys confirms permanent chairman

    22 Mar 2006

    Misys has confirmed Sir Dominic Cadbury is taking on the permanent role of chairman after being in place on an interim basis since November 2005.The global software company has already announced its intention to sell adviser network Sesame around the middle of this year.Cadbury says: I very much look forward to continuing in my role as chairman of Misys, enabling me to provide leadership to the board and support to Kevin Lomax and his team as we work to deliver the full potential ...

  • Miton strategy to build links with platforms

    23 Mar 2006

    Multi-manager Miton Optimal will develop distrib- ution links with wrap platforms rather than "brand-conscious" fund supermarkets where smaller amo- unts of money are invested for the short term.

  • Mortgage View: The non-eXistent factor

    23 Mar 2006

    Time for a rant I'm afraid. How many readers are old enough to remember the Monty Python sketch featuring the classic line "When I were a lad..." - the parody that followed was about how the young of today weren't a patch on earlier generations.

  • 'Most significant reform' to IHT in 20 years

    23 Mar 2006

    This is the most significant reform of inheritance tax since it was introduced in 1986. In his Budget, the Chancellor has euphemistically announced that he will "align the inheritance tax treatment for trusts".In fact, he is abolishing potentially-exempt transfers for gifts to trusts by extending the IHT treatment of discretionary trusts to the majority of interest in possession trusts as well as accumulation and maintenance trusts.This means, unless it is within the very limited ...

  • MPs called to support call for unclaimed assets to make good pensions shortfalls

    22 Mar 2006

    MPs are being asked to support a motion asking for unclaimed assets of banks and building societies to make good the pensions shortfall for those not covered by the pensions protection fund.

  • Multi-management: Label of love

    23 Mar 2006

    When T Bailey started managing funds of funds in 1999, we hijacked the phrase "the Ronseal test" to describe what we wanted to see in a fund before entrusting clients' money to it. Namely, "did it do what it said on the tin"?

  • New lease of life

    23 Mar 2006

    A-Day opens up opportunities for partners looking to use their business premises as a pension asset

  • No bombshells, just damp squibs

    23 Mar 2006

    We witnessed the death of the Budget today. After 10 years, Gordon Brown marked what he no doubt hopes is his last Budget by killing it stone dead.The patient had grown steadily weaker as the November pre-Budget report became the focal point for serious changes in fiscal policy.The terminal damage was inflicted, as David Cameron noted, by the increasing trend to hide the real Budget bombshells in the Red Book, not the spoken word.Finally, the death knell was sounded today ...

  • No excuses over execution-only

    23 Mar 2006

    The Financial Ombudsman Service is warning that there is a clear line between advised and non-advised sales and that firms cannot claim they were not responsible for the suitability of advice because it was of limited content.

  • Not what the doctor ordered on pensions

    23 Mar 2006

    The first rule for doctors is that they should not make the pat-ient any worse. Obvious I know but it is a principle for which Chancellor Gordon Brown has shown scant regard when it comes to his management of the pension system.We should perhaps be grateful for the fact that this year, Brown has managed to refrain from any more random open-heart tax extraction in the Budget.I am disappointed not to see anything on the Financial Assistance Scheme. This was a gol-den opportunity ...

  • NU attacks rethink on turbo-charge rules

    23 Mar 2006

    The Government has relaxed its rules on recycling tax-free cash, allowing up to 30 per cent of the lump sum to be reinves-ted without attracting a tax hit.But Norwich Union has criticised the move, saying it will still have to contact all its cli-ents warning them of the new turbo-charging regulation.Head of pensions Iain Oli-ver says: "We are all being for-ced to take a business risk. The Government is exposing us to scheme sanction charges in the short term as there is little ...

  • Occupational hazard

    23 Mar 2006

    One of my eternal bugbears as a newspaper journalist who has spent years writing about personal finance is that more "generalist" radio and TV colleagues often do not know the full facts about stories they are covering from within our sector.

  • Origo looks to bring more lenders on board

    23 Mar 2006

    Origo says it will implement electronic standards for Sipps, offshore bonds, whole of life, endowments and income draw- down this year as well as continuing its foray into the mortgage market.Managing director Paul Pettitt says Origo is looking to put pressure on providers to improve e-commerce take-up by advisers and extend- ing its Unipass security cert- ificate to include a standard legal framework.Pettitt says providers need to raise their game if they want more advisers ...

  • Pension plans are shunned

    23 Mar 2006

    Opposition parties criticise lack of comment on reform

  • Pensioners hit by punchline

    23 Mar 2006

    "I say, I say, I say. When is an ombudsman not an ombudsman"?

  • Performances go by the book

    23 Mar 2006

    Given the investor profiles assumed, the relative performance of the three Adviser Fund indices to date is in line with long-term expectations.AFI aggressive, the riskiest index, has consistently produced the strongest returns while the most defensively positioned cautious AFI has provided lower but more stable growth.

  • Pet shock ploy as Brown homes in on trusts

    23 Mar 2006

    Chancellor Gordon Brown has rewritten the rules on inheritance tax by abolishing potentially exempt transfers for gifts to trusts in the biggest IHT shake-up for 20 years.The move has been slammed for being retrospective and means families will see years of tax planning unwound.IFA Worldwide Financial Planning immediately warned all its advisers to hold off until the rules were understood.Standard Life and Scottish Widows have recently launched discounted gift trusts and ...

  • Platform to specialise in non-standard cover

    23 Mar 2006

    Risk Placement Services has started an online non-standard life brokerage platform for the IFA market.It has signed up Friends Provident, Scottish Equitable, Standard Life, Zurich and Pension Annuity Friendly Society to the service, which will be available via The Exchange.IFAs will be able to place special risk, impaired life and non-standard life insurance business through the platform and compare prices from providers. Additional panel members that provide impaired and specialist ...

  • Polish plan aims to shine with 16% yield

    23 Mar 2006

    A new offshore Polish residential property scheme is aiming for a 16 per cent annual return through direct investment in the Polish property market.The Dublin-listed product, launched by international property firm Prestige Group, is aimed at sophisticated investors through intermediaries and aims to raise 13.8m before closing on April 28.The funds will then be used to buy at least three residential property sites in Warsaw which will be developed and sold to local buyers to ...

  • Protection accolades for Royal Liver

    23 Mar 2006

    Royal Liver swept the board at this year's Lifesearch Protection Awards, taking four honours, including best overall product provider.The provider award, voted for by all Lifesearch staff, went to Royal Liver for a combin- ation of quick and efficient application processing and its approach of tele-underwriting policies whenever possible.Royal Liver also won awards for most improved provider and best new initiative. Nick Erskine from the company took the prize for best individual ...

  • Protection on the breakfast menu

    23 Mar 2006

    Specialist income protection provider the Pioneer Friendly Society is hosting a series of breakfast roadshows in the UK to highlight key issues within the protection industry.The Income Protection Breakfast is open to all intermediaries and aims to draw attention to various talking points such as the growth of non-advised sales and consumer attitudes regarding complex income protection products.The first of the nine roadshows will take place in Birmingham on March 22 and move ...

  • Pru plans to combine insurance

    23 Mar 2006

    Prudential is understood to be developing a combined policy offering critical-illness cover with incapacity payments.The product is expected to offer incapacity income payments that are severity-based offering staged payouts rather than paying out from a list of conditions.Pru says it is always looking at product innovation but is unable to confirm it is preparing to enter the market with this combined policy.Some commentators have suggested that providers have resisted ...

  • Reits to be allowed within penson funds says HMRC

    24 Mar 2006

    HMRC has confirmed that REITS will be allowed within pension funds as well as in some circumstances other vehicles holding residential properties such as unit trusts, Oeics and insurance funds.No Sipp member may hold more than 10 per cent share in the vehicle and it must hold at least three residential properties or assets valued at 1m or more.The member must not be able to occupy or use the property.

  • Repayment strategies

    23 Mar 2006

    There was a time when you couldn't complete on a mortgage without a savings plan

  • Revenue challenges estate bonds for nonagenarians

    23 Mar 2006

    The Revenue has challenged an Axa Isle of Man inheritance tax product for clients over 90.At least 70 estate planning bonds have been queried by HM Revenue and Customs where clients who were 90 or over when they took out the plan have died within seven years. A test case will be heard before the Special Commissioners during the summer.Executors of the bonds have been paying the inheritance tax and are hoping to reclaim the tax after the case is heard.The dispute revolves ...

  • Right side of the law

    23 Mar 2006

    In the first of a series on the IFA Guide to Working With Accountants and Solicitors, Sifa managing director Ian Muirhead looks at the rules governing professional connections in financial services

  • Rising interest

    23 Mar 2006

    The Law Commission is to re-examine insurance law, including the scope of insurable interest

  • Safe and unsound

    23 Mar 2006

    The Government cannot get away with misleading people on pension risks

  • Speaking their minds

    23 Mar 2006

    Nicola York analyses the outcome of a recent wide-ranging series of surveys as IFAs considered their future role in the financial business

  • Split changes for EIS

    23 Mar 2006

    Commentators are divided on the impact of changes on enterprise investment schemes.Several experts expect the doubling of the tax investment limit from 200,000 a year to 400,000 and the carryback facility from 25,000 to 50,000 will boost inflows. But others believe halving the gross asset threshold on EISs from 15m to 7m means they will be riskier.Smith & Williamson head of tax-efficient solutions Martin Sherwood says new EIS issues have been thin on the ground but he expects ...

  • Stamp duty threshold raised in Budget

    22 Mar 2006

    Gordon Brown has revealed the Government will increase the exemption on stamp duty from 120,000 to 125,000 pounds.He claims Labour has already taken 400,000 homeowners out of the requirement to pay stamp duty.

  • Standard adds seven funds to sigma range

    24 Mar 2006

    Standard Life has added seven investment funds to its sigma mutual funds range.

  • Standard Life and James Hay top adviser Sipp poll

    28 Mar 2006

    Standard Life and James Hay have topped an adviser poll of best Sipp providers.

  • Swede sensation

    23 Mar 2006

    Too many questions remain unanswered on Turner's NPSS proposals

  • Swip predicts hike in Isa sales over next week

    28 Mar 2006

    Scottish Widows Investment Partnership is predicting a surge in Isa sales between now and April 6.

  • TECHNICAL CONNECTION BUDGET COMMENTARY

    23 Mar 2006

    This Budget will definitely give the tax planner some headaches. On the plus side, the following measures will be welcomed:

  • Technology bytes back

    23 Mar 2006

    A sharp pick-up in IT consultancy business suggests companies are planning major system investments

  • Ten times tables

    23 Mar 2006

    Virtual Net (Europe) head of marketing Andrew Bedford (pictured left) says simple arithmetic can bring home to clients the importance of pension planning and show how they can achieve their retirement targets

  • The bid issue

    23 Mar 2006

    Matt Davis examines how much fund managers can benefit from foreign take- over activity in the UK market

  • The blame game

    23 Mar 2006

    Who should shoulder responsibility for the failure of final-salary schemes?

  • The boot of the problem

    23 Mar 2006

    During a two-day trip to Skibo Castle (where Madonna got married), over 200,000 was raised for Keydata's charity the Ring Chromosome 20 Foundation.The huge amount helped to revive Fundworks chief Phil Goffin's spirits after confusion in the boot room led to him throwing away a 200 pair of Italian boots.Unbeknown to Phil, when Keydata's Roddi Vaughan-Thomas accompanied him for an afternoon of quad-biking, he accidentally wore Phil's boots. They were in the boot room and, having ...

  • The green light

    23 Mar 2006

    As huge numbers of investors show a willingness to embrace ethical investing Towers of Taunton (Financial Services) director Robin Keyte says advisers should encorporate SRI in their fact-finds and recommendations

  • The long good buy for pensions

    23 Mar 2006

    The Chancellor said he will change the Debt Management Office's remit such that long gilts should comprise two-thirds of its gilt issuance compared with just less than half today. This is good news for pensions.Long gilts are the most natural matching asset for pensions coming into payment, whether via a life office annuity or not. People should not hang out the flags just yet, however. While supply and demand suggests the price of long gilts should come down as supply goes up, ...

  • The thrill of the chase

    23 Mar 2006

    Claim management companies have been getting a bad press on these pages of late so it is always nice to see some good at last coming out of the sector.Libran Compensation Services launched a national charity initiative recently at Towcester race course, sponsoring the meeting with race names such as Gamble with Bookies not Banks' and Bet on Horses not Houses.Not sure if the Stop Endowment Time-barring handicap steeplechase went down well with any IFAs in the crowd.

  • Threadneedle creates fund for Thompson

    22 Mar 2006

    Threadneedle Investments has created the Threadneedle global emerging markets equity fund for its head of emerging market equities, Julian Thompson.

  • Threadneedle's Beech joins Cofunds' board

    23 Mar 2006

    Threadneedle head of distribution Guy Beech is joining the board of Cofunds as a non-executive director.Beech replaces Threadneedle deputy chairman Alan Ainsworth who has become independent chairman of Cofunds.The chairman's role at Cofunds has been vacant since June last year when IFDS chief executive Charlie Eppinger took over the chief executive role at the platform from predecessor Stuart Dyer.Beech will represent Threadneedle's interests on the board. Ainsworth will ...

  • Tories demand employer compulsion within NPSS

    23 Mar 2006

    The Conservatives say mandatory employer contributions must be an essential part of a national pension savings scheme if any of the proposed models are to be successful.The move puts the party at odds with the Confederation of British Industry, which is lobbying against compulsion if an employee does not opt out of the scheme.Conservative Shadow pension minister Nigel Waterson says the Tories are not yet in a position to back any of the NPSS models but believes the proposals ...

  • Tories suggest Blair may have mislead Parliament over Abraham response

    27 Mar 2006

    The Tories have suggested Tony Blair may be guilty of misleading Parliament in his response to Ann Abrahams Parliamentary Ombudsmans report after revealing a DWP leak they claim shows Government redress calculations were exaggerated.

  • Tough choice for investors in Ratebuster

    23 Mar 2006

    Disillusioned investors who put cash in the DWS Ratebuster product have found themselves with no easy options as the product closes.Aberdeen has written to advisers and holders of the fund detailing their options after the product closes on April 19.Isa investors have the choice of redeeming their shares for cash and losing the tax breaks, rolling over into a cash fund with a 0.5 per cent annual charge, switching into Aberdeen funds with different risk profiles or transferring ...

  • Trustees force BBB into administration

    23 Mar 2006

    Berkeley Berry Birch has been forced into administration after a successful petition by the group's pension scheme trustees at the Royal Courts of Justice this week.The move means advisers are more likely to carry some of the burden of BBB's liabilities through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.The case, heard in the Chancery Division by Mr Justice Etherton, was brought by GP Noble Trustee who are trus- tees for both the group's employee and director schemes.GP ...

  • VCT tax break cut to 30 per cent

    22 Mar 2006

    The Chancellor has cut the tax break on VCTs to 30 per cent from 40 per cent, and doubled the number of people eligible.

  • VCTs set for sales flurry as cap is cut

    23 Mar 2006

    The last week of this tax year is likely to see a stampede for VCTs as they are set to become riskier with less attractive tax breaks following the Budget.On Wednesday, the Chancellor cut income tax relief on VCTs from 40 to 30 per cent for the next tax year.But in a shock move, he also slashed the maximum market cap of eligible investments from 15m to 7m, meaning that VCTs will have to invest in smaller and potentially more risky companies.Investors will also have to hold ...

  • Video views from fund managers

    23 Mar 2006

    Discount broker Willis Owen has set up online fund man- ager video interviews for investors with Asset TV.The library can be accessed through Willis Owen's website and features three interviews initially, with Norwich prop- erty trust assistant fund manager Robert Wood, Schroder income maximiser assistant manager Thomas See, and Richard Skelt, who manages Fidelity's Wealthbuilder fund.Willis Owen says most investors do not see or hear from managers. It says the video interviews ...

  • 'Watchdog is wagging the legal long tail on liability'

    23 Mar 2006

    The Financial Ombudsman Service's power to consider complaints about advice which was given more than 15 years ago, which would be thrown out automatically if made in UK courts, could violate European human rights laws, say lawyers.The ombudsman does not recognise the 15-year time bar specified in general law for investment advice under the 1980 Limitation Act.This prevents a claimant from bringing a claim over 15 years after the original advice was given.In a preliminary ...

  • Which? says unfair credit scores push too many into sub-prime

    23 Mar 2006

    Which? claims too many customers are falling into the sub-prime sector and paying over the odds for their mortgages.It says poor credit-scoring is hitting consumers hard but is not sure whether lenders or credit agencies are to blame.The industry has responded by urging brokers and lenders to work harder to ensure customers are given the rate that their credit history deserves.Which? principal researcher Teresa Fritz says: " A lot of people are being unfairly hit because ...

  • Will an inspector call?

    23 Mar 2006

    Housing information packs: Guy Anker surveys the changing scene

  • Winterthur A-Day range offers transfer to full self-investment

    23 Mar 2006

    Winterthur Life has introduced its A-Day pension range which includes EPPs and section 32s with new features available from April 6.A new online adviser service will be available with enhanced features and online tools on the firm's extranet.An unsecured and alternative pension is available on all contracts and a tax-free lump sum can be taken from protected rights and free-standing additional voluntary contributions. The USP and ASP options are priced at 125 a year for the ...

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