Octopus Investments is to allow investors to buy and hold shares in its Venture Capital Trusts through adviser-facing platform Transact for the first time. The launch of the service follows a change announced in the Finance Bill 2014 which allows investors to buy VCTs directly via a platform. Previously, investors could only transfer their holding to […]
In an era of mobile devices, working remotely and Cloud computing, the modern way of working means data security is increasingly crucial. One wrong move could ultimately bring down a company if sensitive data gets into the wrong hands. It is easy to be derisory of the security lapses committed by others. Briefcases or laptops […]
Advisers are exposing their clients to the risks of fraud and theft, experts warn as research reveals hundreds of firms are using non-secure email addresses. Data from Matrix Solutions compiled for Money Marketing shows 9 per cent of advice firms use a webmail domain name as their company email address. Of a sample of 4,945 […]
At the beginning of the month, Nick and Martin Bamford caused amusement around the industry by announcing the launch of Informed Choice’s robo-adviser as an April Fools prank. What many in the industry might find scary, however, is that they are not too far away from the truth. The emergence of real robo-advisers is, in […]
The service I am looking at this week is a great tool for any hard-pressed PR or digital marketing firm that needs to demonstrate the value of the online coverage they are creating either to a client or internally. Coveragebook.com makes it really easy to analyse online coverage and presents measurement data. Our own PR […]
Broking technology firm GBST Wealth Management is to power Just Retirement’s new simplified retirement platform. The advised-only platform has been developed following the introduction of pension freedoms earlier this month. It will allow customers to purchase an annuity as well as leave their pension invested in a low-risk “rainy day” fund. Just Retirement group communications director […]
7IM has launched a direct platform for orphan clients who no longer have an adviser. The wealth manager says it was seeing demand from orphan clients and did not want to turn them away if they ceased to have a relationship with their adviser. The fee structure is the same as for its advised clients, […]
Your clients are under attack. At least, if they fall into the baby boomer category they are. Not physically, of course, but their perceived wealth and good fortune is a cause for increasing resentfulness among younger people. Baby boomers are widely regarded as the golden generation, with healthy pension pots, properties bought for a song, […]
Private equity firms are circling Seven Investment Management and could value the wealth manager at over £100m, Money Marketing understands. 7IM was founded by Justin Urquhart Stewart and Tom Sheridan in 2001, and has grown from a handful of employees to about 170. It runs about £8bn of assets and is owned by its partners […]
Nucleus has reported a £2.5m pre-tax profit for 2014, up by 67 per cent from £1.4m the previous year. Assets under administration reached £8bn at the end of last year, an increase of 27 per cent compared to 2013. The platform says this boosted turnover by 26 per cent to £23.6m. Nucleus says it has […]
Peter Hargreaves has stepped down from the board of Hargreaves Lansdown, the firm he co-founded with Stephen Lansdown in 1981, with immediate effect. Hargreaves says he wants to spend more time with his family and pursue other interests but will remain “in close touch” as a major shareholder. He says: “I believe this is the […]
Mo wakes me at 6am because one of my New Year’s resolutions was to rise half an hour earlier. Using silent mode, she tells me: “we’ve had an upgrade”. I have learnt the difference between “we” and “I”. “We” means Mo and 200 million similar devices, the data cloud they link to and the AIs […]