The Department for Work and Pensions has dropped plans for a web-based pension service for people who cannot afford advice because it admits it does not know what future pen- sion provision will look like.
The Retirement Planning web service, costing the taxpayer £11m, was intended to provide advice on planning and saving for retirement for people on low to medium incomes. The first element of the service, the provision of online state pension forecasts, was delivered in 2004 and the remainder was due this year. But the DWP says it has suspended the plans due to the radical reforms made in the Pensions White Paper. It says delivering accurate online information about state pensions would become increasingly difficult given the uncertainty about the exact shape of future pension provision. A spokesman says that the project was also deemed too expensive as it would have cost a further £14m to maintain and update between now and 2010.View more on these topicsNews
L&G set for offshore division
Legal & General is recruiting a chief executive to set up and run a new offshore division based in Dublin, Money Marketing understands. The firm has made no secret in the past of its aim to eventually enter the offshore arena but has never committed to a timescale for entry or released any further details […]
Sense of clarity
With both the Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission taking an interest in the effect of non-disclosure on claims, it’s likely that we will see a step change in the way non-disclosure is dealt with.
Bill Mott U-turn at Credit Suisse
Credit Suisse investment guru Bill Mott has agreed to stay on as strategic director at the group two weeks after announcing his retirement.Mott was due to retire at Christmas but the sudden departure of Errol Francis, who has run the flagship income, monthly income and alpha funds for the past year to become number two […]
Fidelity completes American special situations fund transition
Fidelity American special situations fund manager Bob Haber has completed his three month transition of the fund by reducing the number of stocks from 200 to 54.Haber has also increased the fund’s large cap bias although it still has a bigger weighting to companies smaller than the S&P 500, and has made the portfolio more […]
Three stocks due a Brexit boost
By Mark Martin & Holly Cassell, Neptune Mark Martin and Holly Cassell highlight three high-conviction holdings in the Neptune UK Mid Cap Fund that they believe are well positioned to benefit from Brexit. Read more Important information Investment risks Neptune funds may have a high historic volatility rating and past performance is not a guide […]
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AFH chief executive: ‘We have no intention of slowing down on acquisitions’
AFH chief executive Alan Hudson on leading the industry’s most prolific advice firm consolidator After announcing four acquisitions in just two weeks earlier this month, AFH chief executive Alan Hudson knows the market has questions about the sustainability of the group’s success. AFH is becoming a mainstay of adviser-press headlines as it continues buying up […]
Pensions minister: ESG rules will help demystify pensions for younger savers
Auto-enrolment has transformed saving and new regulations will help the pensions industry keep up. In 2012, pensions saving ebbed to a new low. Just 42 per cent of eligible private sector workers were participating in a workplace pension. Just six years on, that figure has soared to 81 per cent. The impact of auto-enrolment has […]
How are advisers handling client questions on crypto-currencies?
Michael Klimes examines the sceptical attitude advisers take towards crypto-currencies Unregulated investments can take diverse forms in the UK, from burial plots near Birmingham to storage pods in Blackburn. In more exotic locations such as the Caribbean, property is popular, while so-called “ethical crops” have lured investors to Africa. While these have been on advisers’ […]
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