The fault in default funds: Why you might not be getting the most out of your workplace pension scheme April 17, 2019 There is no denying that auto-enrolment is paving the way for the British population to have a half-decent savings pot in retirement. According to recent figures from the Office for National Statistics, 76 per cent of UK employees were members of a workplace pension scheme in 2018, up slightly from the 73 per cent enrolled [...]
You’ve been served: A look at the growing trend for divorce loans April 10, 2019 Divorce law in England and Wales is set for an overhaul. New rules announced yesterday will prevent one partner refusing a divorce when the other partner wants one. It’s hoped that the reform will speed up “no-fault” divorces, allowing couples to split with less acrimony, and ending what justice secretary David Gauke described as the [...]
Did a monkey break your smartphone? Aviva reveals its most unusual insurance claims April 10, 2019 A horse mounting a car after mistaking it for a female companion, a monkey smashing a holidaymaker’s phone and a gorilla biting a trekkers arm, were just some of claims paid out by insurance giant Aviva last year. The insurer paid out more than £3.8bn last year as the Beast from the East and airport [...]
Mortgage and investment platform Lendinvest secures £200m funding from HSBC April 8, 2019 Mortgage marketplace and property investment platform Lendinvest has secured up to £200m in funding from HSBC in order to launch its home loan product this year. The new funding will allow the London-based firm, which launched in 2008, to enter the regulated home loan market for the first time as it targets becoming a whole-of-market [...]
Amber Rudd gives nod for pensions dashboard project to ‘transform’ retirement planning April 4, 2019 Amber Rudd has given the green light for the long-awaited pensions dashboard project to go ahead, with the first industry models to come out later this year. Under the scheme, workers will be able to see information about their various nest eggs combined on a so-called dashboard, accessible on smartphones, tablets and computers. The plan [...]
Dormant assets scheme could be expanded following government report April 4, 2019 A scheme to reallocate dormant assets to charitable causes could be extended to the investment and wealth management sector following the publication of a government report. An independent report commissioned by the government found that extending the scheme to other financial services, also including the insurance and pensions sector, could "significantly expand the money available to good [...]
Aviva and Sesame Bankhall invest £5m in new blockchain mortgage platform April 2, 2019 A new fintech mortgage platform has secured £5m seed funding from Aviva and Sesame Bankhall in a bid to transform the market. Acre – a next-generation mortgage and insurance platform – has announced £5m seed funding from insurance giant Aviva and financial advisor Sesame Bankhall Group (SBG). Read more: Monzo backer Accel stumps up $30m for Chainalysis' [...]
Former Aviva boss pay halved in 2018 as insurers gets tough on bonuses but could still net a further £4m March 26, 2019 Former Aviva chief executive Mark Wilson had his pay more than halved last year but could net a further £4.1m after quitting the insurance giant. Wilson, who was brought in to turnaround the business in 2013, stepped down in October last year after the company decided it needed new leadership to boost shareholder value. Read [...]
Dogs of the Footsie 2019: 10 shares yielding 6 per cent plus March 23, 2019 By David Budworth from interactive investor. Here are the 10 high yielders that make it into this year's Dogs of the Footsie investment strategy. It's time to reset our Dogs of the Footsie portfolio, selecting the 10 highest-yielding shares of the FTSE 100 index. Around half of 2018's portfolio is carried over on to this [...]
Barclays rallies shareholders to vote down Ed Bramson’s ‘destructive and destabilising’ board bid March 19, 2019 Barclays has issued a plea to shareholders to reject Ed Bramson’s bid for a seat on the board, warning his presence would be “destabilising and destructive” to the bank. The bank published a comprehensive 1,500 words explanation as to why shareholders should fend off the activist investor’s advances at its AGM in May. Bramson, whose [...]