Concern mounting over the strings attached when it comes to acquisition deals Experts are expressing concerns over how consolidators’ deferred payments to acquire advice firms are operating, urging them to avoid the perception of conflicts of interest. The end of 2018 saw a flurry of acquisitions, and the pace of advice firm buy-outs shows little […]
The FCA has announced a project to better understand how its rules affect smaller firms, including financial advisers. The regulator published a note today informing firms that it would soon conduct a survey to specifically identify how FCA rules impact them, to “help ensure FCA cost benefit analyses and judgements of proportionality take account of […]
Like many others, I have spent the past few weeks setting my mind to planning and thinking about the year ahead. Already it is clear that the theme for this year is going to be mindfulness. I don’t know about you but sometimes I feel like I am constantly on the back foot, dodging this […]
The Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment has set up a helpline for participants in its financial planning mentoring scheme. The helpline, which is being supported by Schroders, will be open to mentors and mentees on the programme, which started on the first of January this year, looking for support in achieving professional financial planning […]
Collapsed wealth manager Greyfriars Asset Management sold its Sipp and SSAS administration business to Hartley Pensions for £820,000 an update on Companies House shows. Money Marketing previously discovered Hartley took on 1600 Sipps, 160 SSAS and almost £500m assets under management onto its books for an undisclosed sum, with fresh documents now revealing the value […]
A weekly account of the curious goings-on in the world of financial services from Money Marketing’s diary page at our Wells Street HQ Backing the wrong horse Retirement solutions provider Embark Group happily took to Twitter last week following the inaugural appearance of its logo on Rotherham United’s football shirts. It did not escape WSJ’s […]
Platform technology firm FNZ will become a minority stakeholder in Embark Group, the companies announced today. Embark is the parent company of Sipp providers Rowanmoor and Hornbuckle, fund research business The Adviser Centre, as well as offering The Embark platform. FNZ’s holding will be 9 per cent and will be handed via a small right […]
Fund manager Miton says it closed 2018 well despite its lowest quarterly inflows for the year coming in the final quarter. Assets under management were up 14.5 per cent for the fund manager to £4.3bn. At the end of 2017, Milton reported £3.8bn in AUM. Net flows were just £92m in Q4, however, which chief […]
Royal Bank of Scotland is lining up a cut to the government’s stake in the bank by buying up to £1.4bn worth of shares from the Treasury. The government currently holds a just over 62 per cent stake in the bank. The Guardian reports that RBS is seeking shareholder approval to buy up to a […]
Welcome to the fourth instalment of our good life gurus series. We talk to IFA’s Kathryn and Alan Knowles to find out how they got started with an exercise regime and how a healthy lifestyle helps them with work-life balance.
Did you know that, if we squeezed the space out of all the atoms in our bodies, the entire human race would amount to the size of a sugar cube? What we value does not seem to amount to very much, does it? Indeed, say there are seven billion people in the world, each weighing […]
For generations, life expectancy has been steadily increasing, with more and more people now likely to live to 100. Scottish Widows’ pension expert Robert Cochran tackles this longevity landscape with economist and co-author of the book ‘The 100-Year Life’, Andrew Scott, in episode one of Scottish Widows’ new podcast series – “The Future of Financial Planning”. Click […]
We’re all living longer – half the future generation born after 2036 is expected to live to 100*. But despite more of us saving for our retirement, and from a younger age, there’s still a lot of work to do if we want our time in retirement to be both financially and physically healthy – […]
Advisers will continue to thrive in a difficult market environment despite the problems facing the platform industry, Nucleus says. Speaking to Money Marketing, Nucleus chief customer officer Barry Neilson says platforms will come under increasing pressure in the short-term with advisers demanding more agile technology to cope with growing customer numbers. Platforms that can harness […]
Research conducted by Canada Life Home Finance shows that 86 per cent of IFAs expect the value of the equity release market to grow in 2019. Of those asked, 40 per cent of advisers see the market worth at least £6bn by the end of 2019, and 46 per cent expect a total market worth […]
As any parent can attest, teething problems are not uncommon among one-year-olds. Fortunately, these tend to pass. Financial services watchers are hoping that the infant Mifid II directive can overcome its own growing pains. The aim of the game after last January’s introduction was transparency. Aggregate costs, both pre- and post-sale, came under new disclosure […]
Sesame Bankhall Group has become the latest advice market brand to launch an academy for member firms. The network, support service and mortgage advice business has partnered with training and education firm Simply Academy to offer member firms across its different business lines access to apprenticeship programmes to help them develop and recruit new staff. […]
John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard and pioneer of index funds, has died at the age of 89 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. The death of the American investment community legend broke yesterday evening and has inspired many tributes. Bogle, often known as “Jack”, introduced the first index mutual fund for investors in 1976 in the […]
The FCA has given the former chief executive and sales director of failed life settlement bond company Keydata until 1 February to pay more than £75m in fines between them. The final notices published on the FCA’s website today bring to a close years of legal fighting between the company’s top executives and the regulator, […]
Star manager Nick Train has described much of the current global political climate as “horrible”, but has sounded an optimistic note about the prospects for equity investors in 2019 on the back of heightened corporate activity. In the January update for the flagship Lindsell Train Investment Trust, Train writes that while equities took a beating […]
Advisers are expert in the art of staying calm when markets are volatile. Amid the current Brexit chaos, that skill is more important than ever as clients look to the leading lights of finance for advice on what to do next. Money Marketing’s flagship conference, Money Marketing Interactive, returns on April 4. Just days after […]
Compliance provider SimplyBiz has seen around 2,300 advisers adopt its end-to-end investment system Centra since its April launch. The system aims to be a one-stop-shop for advisers and includes goals-based planning tools, product research, suitability report processing and a centralised investment process offering backed by an independent committee. SimplyBiz co-chief executive Matt Timmins says: “Advisers […]
Aviva platform boss Tim Orton has exited the business after leading a troubled replatforming project in 2018. Tim Orton was Aviva managing director of savings since 2017 and chief executive of the platform from 2014 until he left the company last week. Aviva’s platform was migrated from Bravura technology to FNZ technology in January 2018. […]
The Financial Ombudsman Service is advertising for a new chair on a two-day a week contract to replace Nicholas Montagu. The role will pay £75,000 a year and is based in London at the ombudsman’s Canary Wharf headquarters. The new chair will be the first to lead the FOS’s board under its new extended remit. […]
A vital element of the new Single Financial Guidance Body’s role should be helping the public understand the difference between free, impartial guidance and expert, impartial advice, so consumers recognise the value added by professional financial advisers. The new body merges three old consumer organisations: Pension Wise, the Money Advice Service and The Pensions Advisory Service. […]
Ipsos Mori has been ranking professions according to how much the British public trusts them for 35 years, and doctors consistently come first or second. The latest survey shows 92 per cent trust doctors to tell us the truth. Financial advisers are not included in the survey. The least-trusted occupations are advertising, politics and my […]
I’ve just spent about half an hour watching a client testimonial video our friends at St James’s Place just posted on their LinkedIn account. I know, sometimes I really do have the best job in the world. It is a fascinating case study on the advice giant’s marketing appeal. Love them or hate them, the […]
Competition on overdraft charges alone will not do the trick. Banks should charge us for each service Has anyone ever queried how much it actually costs to run a bank account? I asked myself that question a few weeks ago, after receiving an annual letter from my bank detailing how much I had paid that […]
Last month, Wingate Financial Planning director Alistair Cunningham wrote an article in Money Marketing arguing that chartered status had been cheapened, citing high-profile incidents of chartered financial planners involved in poor advice as one reason why. For the record, Sandringham is not currently chartered. The question for us and other non-chartered firms remains whether there […]
A new year is a good time to reflect on the 12 months gone by and look ahead at what is to come. We have been asking what our firm has done well, where we can improve and what our targets for this year are. Last year was good for us. It was our first […]
A few decades ago, it was not at all unusual for ordinary workers in the UK to have a defined benefit pension scheme provided by their employer. That has all changed now, of course. Very few employers now offer DB schemes to new workers and the schemes we do have, in the private sector at […]
Continuing the theme of later life care my previous columns have centred on, it seems not a week goes by without some other great revelation hitting me in the face. This time, it is the legislation surrounding care home contracts and top-up fees. Who knew so many care homes attempt to get friends and family […]
This Christmas may be the last time anyone goes a bit overdrawn and is hammered by “high”, “complex” and “harmful” overdraft charges. Because in December 2019, new rules from the FCA will force banks to stop confusing consumers by hiding their excessive fees. Great news. But the best present of all in the FCA’s 215-page […]
According to HM Revenue & Customs, tax doesn’t have to be taxing. But try telling that to anyone who has retired recently and taken advantage of their new pension freedoms. Retirement used to be simple. On your 65th birthday you cleared your desk, thanked your boss for the carriage clock and went home to await […]
The headlines have been dominated by Brexit over the last year. Sterling has come under continued pressure and volatility is hitting the market like never before. Both make it difficult for investment recommendations to be made. Meanwhile, transfers from defined benefit pension schemes continue at a pace, with the value of transfers in the third […]
Career opportunities are being spurned, despite the lure of big-money bonuses Despite offers of increasingly large pay packets and bonus incentives, advisers are frequently turning away from job opportunities where the company will not make sure the culture fits their need, according to a new white paper. Alex Russon, managing consultant at Heat Recruitment, which […]
Few investments saw high returns last year Markets last year were akin to a boxing match, with investors strutting into the ring in January 2018 full of beans and swagger, but ending it on the canvas, down but not knocked out. It was a bruising year, especially for equities globally, and despite a short-lived post-Boxing […]
Is this a birthday to be proud of for the investment industry? Since Mifid II came into force a year ago, industry figures have continued to debate whether it has fulfilled its goal of increasing transparency in the asset management industry. The objective of making financial markets “fair, transparent, efficient and integrated” is a sizeable […]
Redirecting an inheritance into a discretionary trust helps beneficiaries regain control and escape the seven-year rule when regifting Alan and Barbara are a married couple in their early 60s with two daughters: Clarissa is 38, married with two young children and currently pregnant, while her younger sister, Diane, is single with a 10-year-old daughter. Alan […]
In a world of pension freedoms, longevity risk falls on the individual. Clients must realise they will likely live longer than they think Mortality is not the nicest topic of conversation, but there is plenty of evidence that if clients do not have a realistic picture of how long they are likely to live, they […]
With a rumbling trade war, Brexit worries and challenges in both the US and China, what is the outlook? In 2018, we witnessed two global sell-offs, emerging market currencies weakening against the dollar, tightening monetary policies and trade war headwinds start to impact the global economy. So, what can we look forward to in 2019? […]
“It is all odd at first and then it becomes normal – not because it is normal but because repetition uns the peculiar.” This line from John Green’s children’s novel The Sequel serves as a rather apt appraisal of the state of (dis)service from providers to advisers for, well, forever. In fact, this truism is […]
Most of us have a good grasp of how property investments work. This comes through our experience of renting or buying our own homes – or even, in this Airbnb age, of renting out other properties. So it’s ironic, then, that most ordinary investors tend to neglect property investments in their pension portfolios, preferring to […]
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In the wake of yesterday’s Parliamentary vote on the proposed Brexit deal, join Karen Ward, Chief Market Strategist for EMEA, as she assesses the outcome, impact on markets and potential next steps.
Welcome to the first episode of our newest video series on the UK Edge. Andrew Robbens walks us through J.P. Morgan’s UK Equities fund range in preparation for deep dives on individual funds coming in the new year.
Global growth looks set to re-converge at a more lacklustre pace. Karen Ward, Chief Market Strategist for EMEA, looks ahead to 2019 and considers what might lie in store for global economies.
The UK Edge asked Andy Robbens, Investment Specialist at J.P.Morgan Asset Management what an average day for him looks like.
Welcome to the UK Edge’s latest video series – ‘A day in the life of’. In this first episode we follow Investment Specialist Andrew Robbens during a typical day at the J. P. Morgan London offices.
With just over four months to go until the deadline for the UK to leave the EU, Karen Ward, Chief Market Strategist for EMEA and formerly Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers to Philip Hammond, assesses the lay of the land.
Last month, star manager Terry Smith announced he was throwing £25m of his own money behind a new investment trust, Smithson. Ahead of its launch, Money Marketing editor Justin Cash sat down with Simon Barnard and Will Morgan, the fund’s managers, to talk strategy, as well as their thoughts on some of the hottest topics […]
PFS chief executive Keith Richards, Threesixty managing director Russell Facer and financial planner Susan Hill sit down with Money Marketing editor Justin Cash to discuss what’s wrong with the FSCS, and how it can be reformed.
Welcome to the on-demand version of our latest Wired event: The politics of Brexit – What investors need to know. Exclusively for UK Edge members!
Welcome to the third instalment of our good life gurus series. We talk to Kate Shaw, an IFA and ultra runner, to find out how she got started with an exercise regime and how a healthy lifestyle helps her with her work-life balance.
Catch up with last week’s Money Marketing debate on what Labour would mean for financial planners with former pensions minister Steve Webb and three leading advisers.
FSCS levies are one of the biggest bills advisers have to pay. But how are they calculated? Watch our video to find out Advisers slam levy increases as FSCS bills hit desks Solving the FSCS’ long list of problems FSCS chief executive Mark Neale’s blog
UK investment bonds have, for too long, been overshadowed by alternative tax wrappers and the perception that tax within a life fund is a disadvantage. This thinking can automatically discount an investment solution that can be very favourable, especially when you consider the tax changes over recent years. UK investment bonds can offer the right […]
Trevor Greetham, Head of Multi Asset at Royal London Asset Management shares his 2018 & Q4 review. Volatility was back with a vengeance last year after a quiet 2017. Trevor reviews global investment returns over 2018 and explains why he starts 2019 with a relatively constructive view on stock markets. Read the review here Past […]
Read the latest thoughts from Trevor Greetham in our Investment Clock Strategy report ‘Premature recession fears’. An upturn in volatility remains apparent as Wall Street experienced one of its worst December’s since the Great Depression. Recession fears continue to rise and markets are pricing in this eventuality, but current sentiment readings are extremely depressed, the […]
At a time of extreme uncertainty, specialists from our fixed income team share their views on fixed income markets as we enter 2019 and discuss why they expect the recent volatility in markets to continue. Jonathan Platt, Head of Fixed Income, Ewan McAlpine, Fixed Income Product Specialist, and Head of Global High Yield Azhar Hussain […]
From DB transfers to Brexit: Steve Webb, Director of Policy and External Communications at Royal London, considers the big stories in pensions from the last 12 months. Transfers One of the dominant pension stories of 2018 was the large numbers of people taking advantage of pension freedoms to transfer money out of their defined benefit […]
Trevor Greetham, Head of Multi Asset at Royal London Asset Management, looks ahead to 2019 when it comes to investments. Market volatility picked up markedly in 2018 as global growth slowed, US interest rates rose and geopolitical stress intensified. Investing is about deciding which risks are really opportunities and which are best neutralised. While the […]
The new PFS president and Sanlam UK Wealth Division chief executive is keen to remind advisers they are a force for good There is always room for improvement, whatever job you do. It is why line managers bother doing staff appraisals. It is why business owners spend time and money on consultants to help them […]
FP Wealth Management director on helping other advice firms reap the benefits of taking on students If the future of advice makes you think of technology, think again. It is really all about people. A business cannot function without good people – something FP Wealth Management director Ian Bentley is well aware of. For the […]
LEBC director of public policy and investment committee chairman Kay Ingram on giving clients access to the defensive qualities of active funds, even though passive funds have lower charges Do you approach investment management in-house, outsource it or combine both?We do both as we look after a wide variety of clients, ranging from group pension […]