Almary Green, the advice firm led by industry veteran Carl Lamb, is in sale talks with Smith and Pinching Financial Services, Money Marketing understands. One source tells Money Marketing Almary Green staff have visited the Smith and Pinching offices, and that there have been discussions around a merged firm being floated on AIM. The Norwich-based […]
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme has declared six firms in default, with an advice firm and two mortgage businesses on the latest list. Advice firms on the regist covering defaults in August include Newcastle-based Chadkirk Wealth Management. The firm appeared to be a one-man band. Claims managers have already posted adverts regarding potential compensation over […]
The FCA will hold a series of defined benefit transfer workshops for regulated advisers across the UK from October to December. The workshops will reiterate the regulator’s expectations when transacting this type of business and highlight the key points that firms should consider when operating in the market. Particular areas such as fact-finding, the balancing […]
The total value of pension transfers fell from £10.6bn in the first quarter of the year to £8.2bn in the second quarter, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show. According to AJ Bell, this is the first drop in value of pension transfers since the second quarter of 2016. The figures coincide with […]
The Financial Ombudsman Service has ruled in favour of five individuals who lost nearly £100,000 after transferring their pensions into non-standard investments using Sipps. In June, law firm Anthony Philip James & Co issued five cases against Sipp administrator Guinness Mahon Trust Corporation over allegations it worked with unregulated introducers to facilitate non-standard investments. In […]
Michael Klimes asks if advisers need to change their thinking on annuities and incorporate them in drawdown for clients
Royal London has published a discussion paper with pensions lawyers Eversheds Sutherland to help defined benefit trustees handle members interested in transfers. It aims to help trustees understand both what the law requires of them and what good practice might look like. The paper calls on trustees to make members aware that transfer values are […]
Paraplanning firm Heather Dunne Consulting has gone into liquidation after its principal restricted its pension transfer permissions. Adviser Heather Dunne founded the firm in 2002 to support advisers doing pension transfers and the firm’s biggest client was HDIFA. HDIFA is also run by Dunne but was placed on voluntary suspension in July 2017 when it was […]
New research from Aegon has revealed a North-South divide in the way advisers make their investment decisions. It finds the proportion of assets advisers are choosing to place in different types of investment strategies is also linked to levels of affluence. Advisers in the wealthier South place a higher proportion, 35 per cent, of assets […]
Aviva has completed a share buy-back programme worth nearly £600m, the life company has said in an update published today. In spring the insurer said it was planning to buy back up to £600m of its own shares, in an effort to deploy £2bn of excess capital this year. At the time the provider said […]
The Pensions Regulator will launch a new approach to the way it supervises workplace place schemes from next month to safeguard members’ benefits better. An increasing number of workplace pension schemes will come under greater scrutiny from the watchdog through a range of interventions to address risks sooner. The changes result from TPR’s major review […]
FCA chief executive Andrew Bailey says the pension freedoms are the right approach to help individuals deal with the increasing complexities of retirement. In a speech delivered on Saturday about the watchdog’s view on pensions, Bailey argues the context in which individuals have to make decisions about retirement is becoming more nuanced. He says the […]