Money Marketing
19 December 2007
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A game of two halves
20 Dec 2007
The mortgage market has had a tumultuous year, with the first run on a UK bank in over 140 years and the devastating effects of the credit crunch.
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A quick Goodbye
19 Dec 2007
New Star said goodbye to its joint head of fixed interest this week as Theo Zemek quit the firm to join Axa Investment Managers as global head of fixed interest.
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A shaw thing
20 Dec 2007
Sam Shaw is a reporter on Money MarketingI attended Peter Mann & Co's always pleasant Christmas lunch and found myself propped up between the ever so dry David Golder, new MD at Bankhall, and the delightful Kevin Burnham from Uinsure, touting the company's new wares before having to scuttle off to Abercrombie + Fitch in Regent Street "to pick up a few bits for the kids" on strict orders from his wife.
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Aifa wants return to polarisation
20 Dec 2007
Aifa has called for a repolarisation of advisers to create "advice" and "sales" channels and suggests if the FSA gets the retail distribution review right the number of IFAs could treble.
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Alexander Hall's record week 'is a positive sign for industry'
20 Dec 2007
Alexander Hall saw a record 2,000 appointments booked in the first week of December.
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Anger as policyholders are left in limbo
20 Dec 2007
Advisers have attacked the FSA and Aviva for not treating customers fairly by leaving them in limbo.
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Basinghall looking to expand range of mortgages
20 Dec 2007
Basinghall Finance looks set to add to its broking panel and expand into new markets after launching into the mortgage industry this year.
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BestInvest gauges demand for Fof offering
20 Dec 2007
BestInvest is looking at bringing out a series of fund of fund strategies next year, Money Marketing understands.
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Bill benefits divorcees
20 Dec 2007
Advisers say Pensions Bill proposals to end the different treatment of safeguarded rights will benefit divorcees.
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Bolton back in property sector
20 Dec 2007
Outgoing Fidelity UK special situations and special values fund manager Anthony Bolton believes property stocks are nearing a low point and says it may be time to start buying.
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Booming income for boutique
20 Dec 2007
PSigma Asset Management managing director Ian Chimes says the past 12 months could not have gone any better since he and income guru Bill Mott returned to the fund management business.
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Broker Talkback
20 Dec 2007
Was 2007 a good year for you?
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Building societies see November increase in savings but dip in mortgage lending
20 Dec 2007
Building societies saw £2.3bn worth of savings inflows in November, three times the amount received in the same month last year.
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Buoys in the bubble
20 Dec 2007
Lower oil prices, the absence of significantly negative financial news, the announcement of the Bush administration's plan to help troubled homeowners and expectations for additional interest rate cuts have helped push US equity prices higher.
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Buy-to-let landlords optimistic about 2008
19 Dec 2007
Buy to let landlords are optimistic about 2008, according to research from Alliance & Leicester.
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Chandos Rose seeking high-calibre staff
20 Dec 2007
Founder of Wentworth Rose Philip Rose and former directors Ray Peyre, Mark Chandler and Malcolm Thomas set up specialist pension adviser firm Chandos Rose after spotting a gap in the market.
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CII and FSSC agree clarity needed over qualifications
20 Dec 2007
Clarity is needed over qualifications and the designations structure of the 'alphabet soup' laid out in the retail distribution review, says the Chartered Insurance Institute.
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Close call
20 Dec 2007
The new venture capital trust rules are more restrictive than was formerly the case but the best generalist managers should still be able to find qualifying companies with good potential.
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Darling buds of Maia
20 Dec 2007
Chris Ralph, one of the founding partners of multi-manager boutique Maia Capital, says he no longer feels like a small cog in a big machine.
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Davy slams CII transition plan
20 Dec 2007
Simply Biz chairman Ken Davy has attacked the Chartered Insurance Institute/PFS response to the retail distribution review on the issue of transition.
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Double dividend deal for PSigma Isa package
20 Dec 2007
PSigma Asset Management is to offer a mixed Isa package giving investors access to its UK and European income funds.
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Emerging winners
20 Dec 2007
In my final column for 2007, I thought I would look back over the year.
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Festive bargains
20 Dec 2007
Every year, the retailers moan they are having a dreadful Christmas, only for the figures to reveal that sales were not so bad after all. But there are reasons to believe that this Christmas may genuinely be more difficult. Higher oil prices, anaemic real wage growth and a slowing housing market are not the most auspicious conditions.
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Fight the good fight
20 Dec 2007
I went to work last week feeling very bleary eyed after watching the Hatton fight, (nothing to do with the Cobalt Christmas party last week, which I could not possibly talk about) and thought about his amazing spirit when taking on a truly great boxer in his own backyard.
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Fixed-rate fallout could help repay Rock loans
20 Dec 2007
Around £40bn could be released from Northern Rock's £100bn mortgage book over the next couple of years, enabling any buyer of the company to repay the Bank of England loans promptly, says mortgage guru Ray Boulger.
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Friends Prov imposes redemption restrictions on £1.2bn property fund
20 Dec 2007
Friends Provident is to impose a six-month notice period on its £1.2bn property fund due to the current market conditions.
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FSA calls for tougher standards in liquidity discussion paper
19 Dec 2007
The FSA has published a discussion paper reviewing liquidity requirements for banks and building societies, which calls for existing standards to be toughened.
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FSA has lent us its ears but is it really listening?
20 Dec 2007
It is moderately encouraging to read that the FSA seems to be taking on board some of the feedback it has received on the retail distribution review. That said, we should not allow ourselves to be lulled into a false sense that the FSA has turned over a new leaf and is now sensitive and receptive to well reasoned industry representations in a way that it patently has not been in the past.
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FSA issues public censure on mortgage broker
20 Dec 2007
The FSA has issued a public censure on Liverpool-based mortgage broker PB Roberts Ltd for poor record keeping and publishing unclear advertising material.
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General store
20 Dec 2007
General insurance should be looked on as an alternative source of revenue for advisers after market turbulence caused by this year's credit squeeze, says Uinsure chief executive Simon Taylor.
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GI firms to get £40m levy rebate
20 Dec 2007
Around 250 general insurance companies will receive a £40m levy refund by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in January.
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Government issue
20 Dec 2007
It often helps to look at the past year and see how it went. Often, for those of us who work in or write about the financial services industry, it is a case of same old, same old.
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Gross lending falls 8 per cent in November, says CML
20 Dec 2007
Gross lending has fallen 8 per cent in November down to £30.7bn, says the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
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Guaranteed life plans pose threat to trust
20 Dec 2007
Direct Life & Pensions sales and marketing director Richard Verdin has attacked the moves to offer guaranteed life insurance policies, claiming it des-troys the trust people have in their existing policies.
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HBOS reveals £180m crunch sum
20 Dec 2007
HBOS will have to make a £180m write-down of assets due to the credit crunch.
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Hunters will keep financial services in their sights
20 Dec 2007
I read with interest the recent letter from an IFA celebrating the end of the “hunting season” by compensation companies pursuing unjustified complaints against financial advisers.
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Icob victory for our campaign
20 Dec 2007
The FSA's new Insurance Conduct of Business rules have signalled a resounding victory for Money Marketing's No Advice No Protection campaign.
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IMA welcomes transparency push in RDR
20 Dec 2007
The Investment Management Association (IMA) has welcomed the FSA’s push for greater transparency as part of its response to the Retail Distribution Review discussion paper.
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Immovable objects
20 Dec 2007
The FSA may have to backtrack on its ruling to allow property funds to hold 100 per cent in direct property after the swathe of redemptions that has hit this market in the past few months proves just how important a buffer of liquidity is in such vehicles.
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Ins and outs
20 Dec 2007
The debate on whether people are better off contracting back into the S2P has been keeping many an actuarial expert awake in recent years.
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Invesco topples Fidelity from top spot
20 Dec 2007
Invesco Perpetual has dethroned Fidelity as the UK's big-gest fund firm, the first time in nearly eight years Fidelity has not been number one.
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John Charcol makes 2008 predictions
19 Dec 2007
Mortgage broker John Charcol has predicted that property transactions will fall by 15 per cent in 2008 and gross mortgage lending will fall from £360bn to £320bn.
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Jupiter plans India fund
20 Dec 2007
Jupiter is to launch an onshore Indian equity fund for new recruit Avinash Vazirani.
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Justice at last for pension victims
20 Dec 2007
Pension victims finally won some justice this week as Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain produced a rescue package.
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King reveals fears over bank failure
20 Dec 2007
Bank of England governor Mervyn King has admitted the FSA, BoE and Treasury knew in 2006 they could not deal with a failing UK bank.
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Lighthouse loses legal fight
20 Dec 2007
Lighthouse Group has failed in a legal battle against former Carrwood Barker director Philip Luckett in which the firm was trying to claim nearly £900,000 for alleged breach of contract.
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Making contact
20 Dec 2007
I was surprised to read the article last week headlined, Report reveals strain between FOS and FSA, which purports to be based upon my research and is written as if your journalist has spoken to me.But your paper has never contacted me and the article does not reflect the main findings of my thesis and related articles.Dr Sharon GiladLecturer in public sector organisation, Department of Management, King's College
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Monsoon man for Money Portal
20 Dec 2007
Founder and chairman of high-street retailer Monsoon Peter Simon has joined the board of Money Portal as a non-executive director.
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Mortgage brokers face massive PI rise
20 Dec 2007
Mortgage brokers could see their professional indemnity insurance premiums quadruple in the new year as a result of uncertainty in market conditions.
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New Star's Zemek takes global role at Axa IM
20 Dec 2007
New Star fixed-interest and managed distribution manager Theo Zemek has left to join Axa Investment Managers.
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Northern exposure
20 Dec 2007
The market got off to a quiet but encouraging start this year but the first rumblings of trouble in US housing market were already audible.
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Norwich Union enhances group income protection product
20 Dec 2007
Norwich Union has introduced a service which allows corporate clients to track trends in their workforce on group income protection claims.
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Now HMRC loses Countrywide data
20 Dec 2007
HM Revenue & Customs has lost the personal details of 6,500 Countrywide Assured policyholders.
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Now T Bailey growth is eight
20 Dec 2007
T Bailey's growth fund cele-brates its eighth birthday this week and has £169.5m under management.
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NU fined £1.2m for data failings that led to policy frauds
20 Dec 2007
The FSA has fined Norwich Union £1.26m for data protection failings which led to 74 fraudulent policy surrenders worth £3.3m.
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Only a fifth of lenders have passed on rate cut, says Moneysupermarket.com
21 Dec 2007
Only 78 per cent of lenders have passed on the Bank of England's recent rate cut, according to moneysupermarket.com.
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Paper cuts
20 Dec 2007
As an industry, we use a terrifying amount of paper. For as long as I have been involved in technology, the vision of the "paperless office" has been held out as a nirvana that might one day be achieved.
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Pension review
20 Dec 2007
Law-making, market turmoil and constant haranguing were some of the pension themes of the year.
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Peters quits Sesame to join Zurich FS
20 Dec 2007
Sesame head of research Mark Peters has quit after six years to join Zurich Financial Services as market manager, investments.
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Pick of the crunch
20 Dec 2007
What were the big investment themes of 2007 and how have firms fared in the difficult climate? Chris Salih asks four market commentators for their views.
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Pilots show generic advice should be available for all, says Treasury
20 Dec 2007
The Treasury says its Generic Advice pilots have shown the service is relevant to all people, not just low income groups.
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Polarised pensions
20 Dec 2007
Everything is relative when it comes to money I guess and in everyday life when we are buying books or going out on a Friday night we pretty much know what's what on the money front.
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Positive response
20 Dec 2007
The Pension Bill 2007 has been published and, as expected, it includes reforms to improve the state pension scheme, introduce personal accounts and propose powers for the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority to design personal accounts.
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PosSol tops table for satisfaction
20 Dec 2007
Positive Solutions has leapt to first place in the latest survey of satisfaction levels with support services providers and major IFAs.
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Protection review
20 Dec 2007
The last 12 months have seen several significant events which have changed the shape of the protection industry.
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'Providers will take bigger stakes in IFA firms'
20 Dec 2007
2Plan chief executive Chris Smallwood says IFAs are becoming increasingly comfortable with product provider ownership of their businesses and expects this trend to continue in 2008.
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PruProtect is aiming at 10% slice of market
20 Dec 2007
PruProtect plans to enhance its severity-based protection product next year and reach its goal of 10 per cent market share.
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Prying the lid off the tin
20 Dec 2007
Iread with interest that Nic Cicutti was pleased with his 25-year endowment policy that he took out in 1983. He was surprised that it was actually going to deliver what it said on the tin.
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Purely deal 'highlights difficulties of direct route'
20 Dec 2007
Mortgage Centre IFA's purchase of a 50 per cent stake in Purely Mortgages shows how difficult it is to replicate the London & Country model, say mortgage experts.
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River swells
20 Dec 2007
Thames River investment director Michael Warren says appointing multi-manager duo Gary Potter and Robert Burdett in March was one of the biggest moves in the firm's history.
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Rock guarantee is widened
20 Dec 2007
The Government has extended the wholesale guarantee agreements for Northern Rock to include wholesale deposits and other borrowings.
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Sanlam Ireland joins EMXCo
20 Dec 2007
Sanlam Asset Management (Ireland) has joined the EMX Message System in an arrangement effective from December 10.
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Santander sets up emerging fund
20 Dec 2007
Santander Asset Management has set up an emerg-ing markets fund as part of a new global equity growth portfolio.
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Search light
20 Dec 2007
What a year we have had in terms of compliance and regulatory activities. We have welcomed the overriding principle of TCF (which friends of mine in an advertising agency say sounds like a girl band), Mifid (a heavy rock band) and the RDR (an American rapper).What on earth will hit us next year?
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Silver lining
20 Dec 2007
One of my favourite Christmas songs sings the praises of silver bells and how they peal out at Christmas. This is not to be confused with jingle bells, which lacks gravitasIn business, we talk of "silver bullet" solutions - magic management ideas to solve a problem at a stroke.
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So the Government does have some Christmas spirit after all
20 Dec 2007
Following reports of a bitter split within the Cabinet over the compensation package for victims of pension scheme collapses, the Government finally relented this week and announced a £2.9bn package for the workers.
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Stirred, not shaken
20 Dec 2007
My adviser has recommended that I transfer all my existing Isa, Pep and unit trust holdings on to something he calls a wrap. It is going to cost me 3 per cent of the value to do this. He says he will then manage my funds for an annual charge of 0.75 per cent. He tells me everyone is doing this and it means I will get better service. What do you think?
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Survey shows IFA support for bringing protection under RDR
20 Dec 2007
Most advisers believe protection should not be ringfenced from the retail distribution review, says Aegon Scottish Equitable.
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Thames River plans boutique fund with Euro exposure
20 Dec 2007
Thames River says it may introduce a European version of its global boutiques fund as part of its initial offshore range for multi-manager duo Gary Potter and Robert Burdett.
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The answer lies in the soil
20 Dec 2007
Being "qualified" in regulation is like holding a diploma in flower arranging and then trying to dictate how horticulturalists should grow the flowers.
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The cat’s out of the bag
21 Dec 2007
This week saw Bank of England governor let the cat out of the bag that the FSA, BoE and the Treasury all were aware in 2006 they could not deal with a failing UK bank.
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The end of a turbulent year
21 Dec 2007
As greater clarity emerges on exactly what advisers want the outcome of the retail distribution review to be, Aifa has summarised its position into effectively a return to polarisation, which it says could see the number of advisers treble to 100,000.
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The year that fell to earth
20 Dec 2007
You tell us that 2007 wasn't too bad a year.
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Unum changes its group and voluntary critical illness product
19 Dec 2007
Unum has announced a number of changes to its group and voluntary critical illness products including improvements to the automatic entry limit, an extension to the temporary cover provision and an extension of the definition of a partner for voluntary critical illness cover.
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What the tapers say
20 Dec 2007
Some interesting relationships appear when you start comparing the relative tax merits of UK collectives, UK bonds and offshore bonds.
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Which? threatening legal action on NU orphan cash
20 Dec 2007
Which? says it may take Aviva to court if it does not increase the £2,000 windfall payouts likely to be paid to 1.1 million Norwich Union policyholders when distributing its £4bn inherited estate next year.




