Formerly seen as the domain of high-net-worth clients, hybrid retirement solutions are now equally important for clients with more modest pension pots, according to independent financial research firm Defaqto.
Hong Kong’s securities regulator has announced a leadership change at its intermediaries division. BNP Paribas Investment Partners names a new head of emerging market fixed income, while Credit Suisse’s global head of macro products is rumoured to be departing.
Independent research company Defaqto’s latest benchmarking system sees its Diamond Ratings now being applied to absolute return funds.
Advisers are underestimating all-inclusive costs to clients by as much as 1% per year a new survey by Defaqto suggests.
Unit linked guaranteed products could be a useful tool for advisers looking to meet clients retirement income following changes made in the Budget, according to Defaqto.
45% of IFAs were outsourcing their investment propositions in 2013, with more than half doing so via discretionaries, a pointer that the DFM sector is on a growth path, according to Defaqto.
The number of UK-based advisers outsourcing some or all of their client investment proposition has increased by just 3% over the past three years, although this still represents a high number of advisers.
Offshore bonds are available on nearly two thirds of the 24 platforms surveyed by Defaqto for its new star ratings based on the range of features offered.
The proportion of business focused on tax wrapped investments is likely to fall from 21% in the pre-retail distribution review UK market to 13% in 2013, according to a survey of advisers carried out by Defaqto, the financial research organisation.
Ensuring an offshore bond has the right features for a client should be much higher on an advisers agenda than the associated costs, according financial research company Defaqto, which has released a guide to using the vehicles.
Advisers looking to outsource their investment decision making to a multi-manager fund in the lead up to Retail Distribution Review implementation should choose carefully, as very few of these funds have managed to perform consistently since 2008, according to independent research company Defaqto.
With the implementation of the Retail Distribution Review set to take place at the start of next year, two-fifths of platform users in the UK are outsourcing some or all of their investment process, according to a survey of 345 people by independent research company Defaqto.
