Millions of pension savers cannot take advantage of a tax break designed to help them pay for financial advice because major providers including Aviva, Aegon, Fidelity, Legal & General, Prudential and Royal London are not offering it to customers, reports the Financial Times.
An estimated one million people have opted for self-invested personal pensions (Sipp) as they offer a wide choice and the freedom to invest almost anywhere. Hargreaves Lansdown have put together some of the lesser-known facts about the increasingly popular retirement vehicle.
The Financial Conduct Authority wants to use the platform review to drive more competition in the asset management sector, but experts are asking whether it is looking in the wrong place.
The UK’s Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has rejected a complaint against Hargreaves Lansdown after a client accused the platform provider of unnecessarily delaying a transfer of his pension into a Qrops.
Plans by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority to crackdown on excessive asset management fund charges and improve competitiveness in the sector has been met with a flurry of contradictory responses from different parts of the financial services industry.
Hargreaves Lansdown, which operates the UK’s biggest online trading platform, is to allow clients to invest in a dedicated bitcoin Exchange Traded Note (ETN) through its SIPP and brokerage services.
Standard Life Investments hires an ex-JP Morgan executive director, as Hargreaves chairman Mike Evans reveals he will be stepping down. Franklin Templeton poaches a key figure from Aberdeen Asset Management while DFM Beaufort has hired a new investment manager.
Investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown announced a major recruitment drive in its marketing team, while state-backed UK agency Nest poaches LV=’s head of pensions. Neptune hires former M&G head as a special adviser as Standard Life makes a round of promotions.
Aberdeen Asset Management has said its outflows slowed in the second quarter to £2.5bn ($3.2bn, €3bn), but analysts said they doubt this reflects a true change in client sentiment.
UK consumers withdrew £10.8bn ($13.8bn, €12.7bn) from their pensions during the first two years of the pension freedoms.
The sharp increase in people transferring out of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes poses risks for investors and the industry, says Tom McPhail, head of policy at Hargreaves Lansdown. His warning comes as the UK’s pension transfer industry remains under close regulatory scrutiny.
The new Lifetime Isa (Lisa) could prove a useful tool for financial advisers when retirement planning, according to Ollie Smyth of UK-based IFA firm Walker Crips Wealth Management.
