UK chancellor George Osborne’s recent announcement to cap investment and pension exit fees is a big step in the right direction towards tackling punitive investment and pension exit fees, says David Pugh, director of The Fry Group, Singapore.
Financial services firms in the UK received 2.11 million new complaints between July and December 2015, a decrease of 1.4% compared with the previous six months, according to the Financial Conduct Authority.
IFA consolidator AFH has pulled out of a potential bid to acquire Lighthouse as it sees “limited growth prospects” for the national advice firm.
No longer the preserve of payment solutions developers, fintech startups are gaining ground and increasingly disrupting the investment management industry.
More than a third of pension advisers in the UK admit that they have been ‘caught out’ by unexpected charges on self-invested personal pension (Sipp) wrappers, research by retirement specialists Momentum Pensions shows.
The introduction of a new law governing Ucits could lead to an increase in fees charged by depositary banks responsible for holding the funds, industry experts have warned.
Closed book pension provider Phoenix Group is reportedly making a move on Deutsche Bank’s UK insurance unit, Abbey Life.
Former Schroders equities trader Damian Clarke has pleaded guilty to nine counts of insider trading and will be sentenced on 13 June.
In further industry reaction, a number of key players in financial services have reacted positively to the FAMR report’s positioning in favour of a fee-based only RDR regime, with no re-introduction of commission as remuneration for financial advisers.
The Financial Conduct Authority is calling for early access to pension pots to pay for advice costs, in its final report on the Financial Advice Market Review (FAMR) published today.
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.
The UK’s new senior managers regime, designed to hold bankers and insurance managers accountable for misconduct in areas under their responsibility, has come into force and will apply equally to officers of the Financial conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
