Decide the rules and then leave them alone for at least 10 years, the government is told October 20, 2016 The boss of a leading financial adviser has made a direct appeal to the government to "simplify and stabilise the UK savings system". Andy Bell, the chief executive of AJ Bell, wrote to both chancellor Philip Hammond and pensions minister Richard Harrington to urge them to set up a new independent pensions tax commission whose recommendations would be set [...]
Wealth manager Brooks Macdonald names new chief exec as assets under management rise 7.5 per cent October 20, 2016 Brooks Macdonald today named a new chief executive as the wealth management firm reported a seven per cent growth in assets under management (AUM). Caroline Connellan, HSBC’s head of UK premier and wealth, is set to join the company next April and will replace Chris Macdonald. Read more: Leeds wealth manager aims to take revenues [...]
Robots, AI and digital disruption are coming to the hedge fund industry October 20, 2016 The robots are coming. And the hedge fund industry appears to be accepting it. “There’s a very strong business case for replacing humans with algorithms in a lot of areas of the business,” said one respondent in a survey of more than 100 hedge fund leaders and executives. Some 58 per cent of those interviewed [...]
One in four caught out by current account fraud October 19, 2016 Around a quarter of Brits have fallen victim to a fraud involving their current account, research out today has found. Price comparison site USwitch also discovered that victims were parted with an average of £828, while one in five of those affected are still out of pocket following their bank's investigation. Meanwhile, over half (59 per cent) of [...]
Experts react to dropping of Osborne’s flagship secondary annuity market October 19, 2016 Yesterday's announcement to scrap George Osborne's plans to create a secondary annuity market was unsurprising to many. According to some experts the writing was on the wall as soon as the process was delayed until April 2017. Nevertheless, there was a lot of noise from analysts and experts. Read more: Government bins plans for secondary [...]
Most Brits do not realise that they’ll be paying more and more into their pension scheme in years to come October 19, 2016 British workers are blissfully unaware of a number of key government initiatives on saving for retirement after wide-ranging report revealed the extent of the country's understanding on workplace pensions. With two-thirds of eligible UK workers now enrolled into a workplace scheme, according to a report prepared by Scottish Widows 68 per cent of people do not realise that their [...]
The Brexit rally is less fragile than it looks October 19, 2016 The performance of UK shares has generally confounded most strategists. Since the vote to leave the EU in June, UK savers have enjoyed returns of close to 15 per cent. While the weakness of sterling has eaten most of those returns for overseas investors, we are in a much better place than many were predicting in [...]
Gap between RPI and CPI is a £100bn problem for final salary pension schemes October 18, 2016 Experts said that today's inflation figures indicate that £100bn could be saved by switching annual adjustments in pension pay outs from the retail price index (RPI) to the consumer price index (CPI). Defined benefit, or final salary, pension schemes are adjusted for inflation and many have a "hardwire" link to RPI rather than the government's current main reference index, the CPI. RPI for September was [...]
Economic minister Simon Kirby bins plans for secondary annuity market: Is this a sign that more pension reforms are on the horizon? October 18, 2016 One of George Osborne's cornerstone policies on increasing pension freedoms has been dropped by the government, the economic secretary announced today. In March 2015, the government announced plans to set up a secondary market in order to give pensioners greater access to cashing in annuities. Read more: Over-55s need to go on this kind of shopping spree more [...]
P2P property investment lender boosted by banks scaling back October 18, 2016 Peer-to-peer (P2P) platform Saving Stream has reached a new milestone of £200m in lending to property investors. The company, which was founded in 2012, said its performance has been boosted by banks reducing their lending, especially since the Brexit vote. Read more: Neil Woodford-backed P2P lender reports loss as it seeks sustainable future Saving Stream has [...]