“Ethiopia. I&#39m going to Ethiopia. Why?” This was my initial reaction when I was pre sented with a trip to this African paradise. But what could this former war-torn, famine-plagued corner of East Africa have to do with the financial services industry in the UK? Let&#39s get this straight from the start. Ethiopia has nothing […]

I am a 60-year-old director of a company. My executive pension plan has just matured. I noticed a performance comparison in the financial press where my insurance company shows what returns it would have given on a policy similar to mine. The returns it quotes are much more than I got. In fact, I paid […]

Yorkshire Building Society&#39s customer promise to its one million members marks an escalation in the competition between lenders. Last week&#39s move raises the stakes from a war on price to one covering principles and service. Communications manager David Holmes says: “This is the next stage of proving what a mutual can do. “For the last […]

A failed attempt to buy rival IFA firm Moores Marr Bradley contributed to sharply reduced six-month profits at Berry Birch & Noble. Profits plunged to £177,000 for the half-year to July 31 compared with £355,000 for the same period last year, a drop of more than 50 per cent. Berry Birch & Noble paid £141,000 […]