Insurer Royal and Sun Alliance announces that its sales of life insurance and investment products has skyrocketed in the first quarter of the year.
Sales of these products have grown 84 per cent to £336m compared to the same period a year ago.
Within the UK, unit trusts sales grew 177 per cent, while single premium bonds increased 105 per cent.
Last year, the life office decided to focus its sales efforts within the UK on using independent financial advisers instead of relying on tied agents.
Pension provider NPI is the first life office to base external fundmanagers' charges on performance.The company believes one way IFAs can fight back in the post-stakeholdermarket is to offer external fund management links on its pensions. It isalso making the fund links open to all its new and existing customers.NPI says it whittled its choice […]
The Government's Catmark scheme is in urgent need of consolidation andpromotion.Introduced first for equity savings plans and soon for mortgages andpensions, the scheme was designed to inj-ect greater competition into the booming personal fin-ance market.By giving a Government stamp of approval to products with reasonablecosts, access and contract terms, the Chancellor hoped to spark adem^_and-led […]
A survey from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors reports that housing prices are cooling off in London and the southeast.In the three months ending on March 31, the results indicate that while prices still rose, they did so at a slower pace than in the previous period. Just over 60 per cent of those […]
Scotland's fund management industry is increasing by the minute and it isnow one of the biggest centres in Europe. Which investment houses do yourate and why?MD: Britannic have been my long-term favourites. They have an excellenttrack record across a range of funds. A genuine team approach seems to havepaid dividends for them. The other two […]
By Rob Burnett, Manager of the Neptune European Opportunities Fund In recent weeks, the bear case for European equities has become more pronounced on the back of weaker-than-expected GDP data and deflation concerns. This softening in economic momentum has led some investors to question whether the ECB is behind the curve and indeed whether it […]
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Close to 15,000 people have pushed back against alleged government plans to shelve the pensions dashboard by signing a petition. This week it was reported secretary of state for work and pensions Esther McVey’s was moving to scrap the project. The petition, hosted by 38degrees, has collected 14,377 of a target 15,000 signatures in just […]
Back in May, I wrote about the pressures building in advice firms due to a shortage of highly skilled staff and the consequent costs in recruiting. With Apfa research finding profits from retail investment advice fell 16 per cent between 2014 and 2016, I thought businesses faced a worrying future. But last month’s FCA Data […]
The Pensions Regulator has appointed an independent trustee for the 15 schemes linked to the now shuttered Fast Pensions. Fast Pensions and five connected companies were wound up at the High Court in May. According to an Insolvency Service statement, it is estimated around 520 people were persuaded to transfer a total of at least […]