UK robo-advice financially unviable, warns investment firm SCM
UK robo-advisers are ‘wired’ to lose money and most will go bust before acquiring the sizeable assets under management needed to survive, a scathing new report has warned.
FCA
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OMW slashes exit fee cap to 1% ahead of FCA reforms
Old Mutual Wealth is cutting exit fees to 1% from 5% for all customers aged 55 or over ahead of the UK regulator’s proposals to adopt a similar regime.
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Apfa urges UK to delay launch of secondary annuity market
The introduction of a secondary annuity market in the UK should be delayed due to a lack of interest from advisers as well as the post-Brexit fallout, the Association of Professional Financial Advisers (Apfa) has told the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
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Sipp provider European Pensions goes into administration
European Pensions Management (EPM), a UK-based self-invested personal pension (Sipp) provider with over 6,000 customers, has formally entered insolvency proceedings under the special administration regime.
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FAMR’s financial advice working group named
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has named a working group that will take forward three key recommendations of the Financial Advice Market Review.
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FCA charges five in £2.75m boiler room scam
Five people appeared at London’s Southwark Crown Court on Thursday accused of promoting and selling shares in a company through a succession of boiler room scams.
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Smaller pension pots hardest hit under pension freedoms
People in the UK with smaller pension pots could lose as much as 10% of their retirement savings paying fees under the pensions freedoms, while others are failing to shop around for the best deals.
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FCA bans two fraudsters over ‘risky’ pension investments
A British financial adviser and his boss have been banned from working in the financial services industry for lying to clients about where they invested pension pots totalling nearly £24m ($34.9m, €30.7m).
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Strabens Hall claims PI payout ends insolvency threat
International IFA firm Strabens Hall says it no longer faces “inevitable insolvency” due to £1m in claims over ill-fated investments in the collapsed Connaught Income funds after reaching an agreement with its professional indemnity insurer.
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Watchdog tells wrongly-advised client to pay £1,700 exit fee
A decision by Friends Life to charge a client a £1,700 exit fee for transferring a planned pension has been upheld by the UK’s Pensions Ombudsman Service (POS), despite being wrongly advised by her IFA.
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EEA investors offered ‘dismal’ price for run-off shares
Investors in the ill-fated EEA Life Settlements Fund have received a “dismal” strike price offer for their shares in so-called ‘death bonds’, according to campaign group EEA Investor’s Group (EEIG).
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PEOPLE MOVES: Amundi, Pictet, Axa, FCA, ABI, UBS, BNY Mellon
Amundi announces a high-profile global advisory board, while Pictet names ex-Goldman Sachs director Dominique Joories to head its Singaporean banking unit. Axa reveals Jean-Laurent Granier, the chief executive of the group’s Mediterranean and Latam divisions, will step down next month while prominent figures from the UK’s insurance industry join trade body ABI.