I want to highlight a major pensions injustice concerning employers who choose an auto-enrolment scheme administered on a net pay basis. Such schemes cannot add the 25 per cent bonus of tax relief to contributions of workers earning less than £11,500 a year from the employer. Auto-enrolling these employees – mostly women – into a net […]
Advisers tell clients not to rely on state pension after Government ‘shifting goal posts’ in the past
Firm that agreed to stop regulated activities was able to continue writing business with 11 different providers due to missing information on the FCA register
The FCA has begun consulting on changes to its requirements around advice on pension transfers where clients have safeguarded benefits; in particular, defined benefit transfers. The proposals seek to recognise that the economic and legislative environment has changed significantly. If you are active in this market, you can contribute by completing the online response form […]
A new offering from Royal London re-writes the rule book and sets a new benchmark for the industry.
Regulator says wealth managers and advisers were well prepared for fund suspensions with little impact on clients
We may hit peak oil before 2020 after which production goes into terminal decline. At Platforum’s recent D2C & Digital Investing conference, it was suggested by Econsultancy founder Ashley Friedlein that we have already hit peak CDO – the point at which the chief digital officer function is most prevalent in companies. Of course this […]
The issue of defined benefit pension transfer advice continues to dominate the adviser news agenda. It is the keynote topic at adviser conferences, it is lighting up online traffic on adviser websites and it is the go-to topic of conversation at industry meetings. Money Marketing has been writing in-depth cover stories on the topic for […]
Convictions for two UK ex-traders have been thrown out due to use of “compelled testimony” given to the FCA
Complaints commissioner says FCA can “lack openness” in dealing with complaints and shows a reluctance to empathise with the public
FCA targets the gaps in the DB transfer advice process
Platform’s assets at the end of the year were £12.3bn, an increase on the 2015 result of £10.1bn
Returns on investing in a pension could be twice as high as investing in buy-to-let property, according to new research. IG Group, calculates that if an investor purchased a £200,000 property, assuming 3.5% rental yield and 4.5% annual capital growth, they would return 237 per cent over 20 years after capital gains tax. However, a […]
The Government has decided to bring forward the increase in the state pension age to 68 by seven years. Adopting the recommendations of the Cridland review into state pension increases, the Government has confirmed that the state pension age will rise from 67 to 68 from 2037. Speaking in the House of Commons today, Work […]
Peter Hargreaves has put his weight behind a fund firm set up by ex-Artemis UK equities fund manager Stephen Yiu. Companies House filings reveal the Hargreaves Lansdown co-founder has been a “designated member” at Blue Whale Capital LLP since February 2017. Blue Whale is an asset manager operating out of Bath and was registered by Yiu, […]
Advisers have hit out at increases in their FCA levies, particularly the portion that goes to fund the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, as regulatory bills for the year begin landing on desks. Advisers have started to receive their invoices from the FCA this week, which also splits out how much they have to pay towards […]
JP Morgan Asset Management and Aviva Investors are among the big fund management names still “reviewing their options” on how to pay for investment research once Mifid II comes into force. Mifid II, which is set to be implemented in less than six months, asks fund managers to decide whether to pay for research themselves […]
4,300 clients will transfer over to the Hargreaves platform
Aviva is to sell its offshore Friends Provident International business in Asia and the Middle East for £340m following a strategic review. It has agreed to sell the offshore arm to International Financial Group, formerly known as RL360. The deal is subject to regulatory approval, and will see Friends Provident International’s £7.6bn funds under management […]
Will quantifying the value of advice help boost take-up, and should employers do more to signpost to advice?
Managing director of national advice firm Sandringham Steve Braidford has left the firm. Braidford was formerly sales director at Verbatim Asset Management, the in-house fund management arm of support service provider Simplybiz, before becoming a director at Simplybiz and then moving to Sandringham in 2012. A Companies House filing shows Braidford’s Sandringham directorship ended on […]
It won’t be a revelation to anybody that the financial advice sector is in dire need of new blood in order to survive. In fact, it’s been a consistent talking point throughout the two decades I’ve spent in this industry. I’ve chosen to write about the subject for two reasons. Firstly, we’re getting dangerously close […]
Defined benefit pension transfers continue to be in the spotlight following the FCA’s recent consultation on pension transfer advice. One thing that is not changing is the three-month window of opportunity customers and advisers have to complete the DB transfer, in order for the pension provider’s guaranteed cash equivalent transfer value to be honoured. While […]
Financial regulators want to boost competition for market players and lower fees for investors. But occasionally these values are in conflict. An example is the FCA’s terms of reference for its platform market study today. It points to a world in which scale matters more than ever. While the name of the report suggests it […]
There were many lessons to be learned from the General Election. However, one of the most prevalent is the amount of damage that can be caused when you embark on a campaign to establish a result of which you are not entirely sure. Whatever your political persuasions, I think we can all agree that the […]
The FCA needs a clear focus as it reviews the rules
No one ever goes to work aiming or expecting to do a poor job. While everyone has different beliefs, motivations, communication styles, skills and experiences, I firmly believe most people want to do their job well. There is a lot of research to support the notion that people need more than just money and other […]
We need a better grasp on what the self-employed want before jumping to pension solutions
This week I am in New York to see the latest innovations in wealth technology and to hear from several industry leaders transforming the way Americans access advice. Now in its third year, the In|Vest conference provides a heady mix of powerful tech demonstrations and exceptional thought leadership. The big message on day one was […]
Here is a question for you: is it possible to square two comments, one of which involves ruling out a “fundamental” shake-up of pension tax relief, while simultaneously stating the Government “will not shy away from the big decisions and where change is need it will be made”? Not in my book – and I […]
Are pensions the new magic money tree? For many thousands of people aged at least 55 with a defined contribution pension, the answer seems to be yes. For all of us who believe the purpose of a pension is to provide a sustainable income in retirement, the findings of the FCA’s Retirement Outcomes Review interim report […]
Evidence suggests UK banks are extending credit to the wider economy and that has to be a good sign
Protection Review chief executive Kevin Carr rounds-up the latest developments in the world of protection
In the past year absolute return funds have had their fair share of negative headlines, and big-name funds in the Investment Association’s Targeted Absolute Return sector have suffered outflows – notably Standard Life Investments Global Absolute Return Strategies (GARS). When the fund group reported its profits for 2016 at the start of this year the […]
June is typically a tough month for stock markets. 2017 has been no exception and the UK in particular has experienced a harder time over the past few weeks. To be fair, it has had a lot to contend with given the general election result. A left-wing socialist party is standing in the wings, ready […]
The recent spate of major cyber attacks around the world shows you cannot be too careful when it comes to security. Cujo Smart Firewall is a compact device that can plug into your home via a network cable in order to bring business level security to it. If a threat or suspicious activity is detected, […]
This month marks the 20th anniversary of the start of the Asian financial crisis, which sent shockwaves through the region and beyond. The crisis is thought to have started in Thailand in the summer of 1997, although its roots stem from even earlier systemic problems, namely in the financial sector. Thailand’s currency, the baht, had […]
Helping clients to make the right choices for regular savings and lump sum investment is one of the key roles of financial planners. Making the wrong choices can cause serious financial detriment and this consequence, together with relative complexity over the choices and difficulty in “self-serving” the answers, are, in my view, the three key […]
I think we were all pleased to finally see the FCA’s consultation on defined benefit transfers. Even for those that don’t agree with all of the content, the time for revision of the current rules is long past. Even before pension freedom, the rules, many of which were formulated in the aftermath of the mis-selling […]
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Title: MM Wired: Beyond the election Date: Thursday 15th June Time: 11am Money Marketing Wired returned in association with The UK Edge on Thursday 15 June with a topical debate on the election results. To see the full on-demand version of this session, please watch the video above. Panelists Stephanie Flanders – Chief Market Strategist (UK […]
MM takes stock of the mega-merger set to shake-up the asset management industry
Money Marketing takes a look at where your regulatory bills go after the FCA released its latest levies this week.
Ahead of the Budget tomorrow, Money Marketing editor Natalie Holt speaks to Helm Godfrey chairman and Platforum consultant Danby Bloch about the backdrop to Chancellor Philip Hammond’s first Budget speech. Bloch discusses the expectation around changes to National Insurance contributions and income tax, and the implications for the self-employed. He also gives his thoughts on […]
With bond yields and interest rates stubbornly low, sourcing income remains a challenge. Here, James Foster and Jacob de Tusch-Lec explain their view
We’re all familiar with one of the key barriers to people taking out protection – affordability. In our recent State of the Protection Nation research*, this was the top reason given by consumers for not owning life insurance (29%), critical illness (32%) or income protection (31%). But protection doesn’t have to cost as much as […]
By Marcus Morris-Eyton Having been out of favour for a number of years, European equities are finally seeing the return of investors. However, with Europe having outperformed the S&P 500 by 6.3 per cent in US dollar terms for the year to date (as of 13/06/2017), how much outperformance potential is left? To answer this question […]
Watch Rob Burnett, manager of the Neptune European Opportunities fund, discuss the political and economic factors driving European equities today. With potentially tighter monetary policy on the horizon and record valuations for defensive stocks, Rob believes that there is an asymmetric opportunity to the upside for value strategies. In the video, Rob discusses: The impact […]
Helen O’Hagan, technical manager at Prudential, has produced a third article in the trust series range exploring discounted gift trusts (DGTs). These can take different forms, but in this article she looks at a ‘standard’ DGT and will cover: W – why use a DGT H – how to use a DGT A – access […]
Ian Kernohan, senior economist at Royal London Asset Management, examines the current position of sterling as the Brexit process continues to look uncertain. Read the article here The value of investments and the income from them is not guaranteed and may go down as well as up and investors may not get back the amount […]
In this edition of Behind the Headlines, Money Marketing editor Natalie Holt talks to Callum Abbot, fund manager in the UK equities team at JP Morgan Asset Management, about the impact of the UK election on markets and the investment opportunities presented by Brexit and President Trump. Abbot discusses his forecasts for sterling in the […]
The former IFP president on why she is looking to buy more firms and train up new talent at her new firm
Serenity head of financial life planning on providing a light at the end of the tunnel for clients
The chief executive on his retail sector-inspired plans to help investors make the right choice
