Abbey National has reportedly won the Scottish Provident sweepstakes with a deal for the purchase of the mutual insurer worth £2bn. The sale will result in windfalls for Scot Prov policyholders of an average of £4,500 to £6,500 each. Abbey was facing competition from a number of rivals including Royal London, Liverpool Victoria, Old Mutual and Swiss Life. All of them had expressed interest following Scot Prov's announcement earlier this year it was interested in demutualisation. Any deal would have to be approved by the life office's 450,000 policyholders. A vote is most likely to be held next spring, with windfalls being paid to those eligible by the autumn. Abbey will likely sell off Scot Prov's 38 per cent interest in fund manager Aberdeen Asset Management worth between £300m and £400m. Scot Prov has a total of £10.5bn in assets. If successful the move will redeem Abbey chief executive Ian Harley who failed in his bid to buy Scottish Amicable in 1997.
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First British president for MDRT in 73 years
Bristol IFA Tony Gordon has been appointed the first Brit-ish president of global fin-ancial adviser support organisation The Million Dollar Round Table.This is the first time in the organisation's 73-year history that an individual from outside the US or Canada has taken the top position.Gordon is co-founder ofIFA Redcliffe Associates and has been a member […]
First website is set up for Muslim investors
Muslims now have their own financial services website.IslamiQStocks.com, which was set up last week, aimsto enable Muslims to manage their financial affairs in accordance with Islamicor Shari'ah law. Under Shair'ah law, Muslims are prevented from investing in companies whose business involves alcohol, gambling, pork products or pornography.The website offers stock-screening, where stocks arefiltered against Islamic-per- […]
CA's draft rules on mortgages welcomed by CML
The Council of Mortgage Lenders has welcomed the Consumers' Association guidance to lenders on best practice for drafting mortgage terms and conditions.The two organisations are in agreement on many issues regarding the fairness of mortgage terms but the CA backed down on some issues and amended the draft guidance following talks with the CML.The CML […]
Gib is on the Rocks
Staff at Clerical Medical's product development department are distraught that their mascot toy gibbon has been “gibnapped” by the shadowy Radical Anti-gibbon Unit (Ragu).Gib has been missing for over two months and has been sighted as far afield as Scotland, Ireland, France and most recently in London.Events have now taken a sinister turn for the […]
Automatic enrolment – are the right people saving?
Fiona Tait takes a closer look at the Department for Work & Pensions’ forthcoming review of automatic enrolment In December, pensions minister Richard Harrington announced the scope of the DWP’s forthcoming review of automatic enrolment (AE). The review will look at AE coverage, as well as the current thresholds and age criteria. In other words: […]
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FCA to crack down on ambulance chasers
Claims management companies must be more specific on separate permissions and competency when they under the remit of the FCA, according to HM Treasury. Under rules proposed in the Treasury’s latest consultation paper, claims management companies will operate under six sectors – housing disrepair, industrial injuries disablement benefit, personal industry, financial products and services, criminal […]
Martin Tilley: Keeping on top of Sipp proposition dilution
Knowing what assets each operator will accept and with what conditions is becoming increasingly difficult The recent well-publicised events concerning Sipp operator asset acceptance have focused the mind of a number of advisers. We have been fielding enquiries about our own Sipp and the asset classes we as a Sipp operator would consider. But this […]
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Fears over investment trust sales as new disclosure hikes costs
Investment trust sales may come under pressure due to new EU rules, experts have warned. The potential benefits of gearing on investment trusts risk being overlooked as new cost reporting rules make them look more expensive compared with open-ended funds. Traditionally, closed-ended funds have looked attractive based on lower costs compared with other structures, as […]