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Part-timers progress on long march to Europe
Part-time workers have a hard life. Many of them are low-paid. Many are women. Many are excluded from occupational pension schemes. But, supported by their unions, they are fighting back. They are also getting help from the European Court of Justice. Last December, the ECJ ruled in favour of a mental health officer on the […]
Mortgage Trust pays renewal on flexible loans
Mortgage Trust is paying out its first renewal commissions to brokers which last year completed over £1m of business on its two flexible mortgage products, the Early Payment Plus and the Current Account Mortgage. Brokers have to be members of Mortgage Trust's Millionaires Club, which supports IFAs which sell mortgages in volume. They will get […]
Micropal Top 10s
Norwich Union's £53.5m Norwich American smaller companies trust is ninth out of 1,495 unit trusts over the last year, with growth of 27.88 per cent. The top 10, for so long dominated by Hong Kong trusts, emerging market funds and trackers, now includes five funds investing in North America. The NU fund, managed by Terry […]
Axa Sun Life rethinks whole product range
Axa Sun Life is revamping its entire product range in its first major drive into the IFA market since the £690m Axa Equity & Law merger with Sun Life. The two companies merged last July. Axa will become the direct arm and Sun Life was relaunched last week as the IFA arm. The new IFA […]
Strong dollar can be a powerful driver of UK dividend growth in 2015
By Robin Geffen, fund manager and CEO
This year threatens to be a challenging one for UK dividend hunters. Last year saw an all-time record amount paid out in UK dividends — some £97.4bn, according to research from Capita Dividend Monitor. Yet as Capita also pointed out, out the biggest single factor driving the growth in the fourth quarter of last year was easy to identify: the rising US dollar.
In our view, this trend is much more than simply a one-quarter phenomenon. It is actually the most profound issue to get right as a UK equity income investor in 2015. We believe that the US dollar will continue to strengthen significantly from its current level. This is due more to the US economy’s demonstrable de-coupling from the rest of the world than to a view on the UK. The US has a strong chance of tightening monetary conditions this year without jeopardising growth or de-stabilising its housing market. The same can unfortunately not be said about the UK.
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Foster Denovo makes acquisition to kick off growth push
National advice firm Foster Denovo has acquired employee benefits consultancy TEBC. The deal brings over 100 corporate client relationships, and Foster Denovo will look to build TEBC’s staff into its own employee benefits division, Secondsight. Foster Denovo says the deal is the first in an acquisition strategy it will be pursuing. Chief executive Roger Brosch […]
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Profile: Columbia Threadneedle boss: ‘Active management is far from dead’
Columbia Threadneedle’s new EMEA chief executive Michelle Scrimgeour on why passives’ popularity will not last forever
Treasury under fire for lack of diversity at Bank of England
The committee wants answers on the gender divide of the Bank of England’s committees The influential Treasury select committee has threatened to stop endorsing appointments to the Bank of England unless the Treasury starts nominating a more diverse range of candidates. Chair Nicky Morgan has written to Chancellor Philip Hammond demanding the Treasury publish the […]