Financial Advisor articles from August 2004

Financial Advisor archives from August 2004

IFA firm that owes AGBP10,000 is barred.(independent financial adviser)(Allied Capital (UK) Limited)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... AN IFA firm which owed almost AGBP10,000 and failed to tell regulators of its new address has been barred. Allied Capital (UK) Limited has had its permission to continue trading taken away by the FSA. The Glasgow-based firm had not...

Chilling out at work.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... GRABBING a bite to eat at the office has been made more attractive for employees at Royal London's Silvermills building. Staff at the Edinburgh office no longer have to nibble their nosh in the streets as they can enjoy a swish cafA area...

AGBP850m sale sees R&SA exit life insurance market.(Royal and Sun Alliance PLC)
August 5, 2004... ROYAL & SunAlliance's latest sell-off saw the former lifeinsurance giant shift even further off most IFAs' radars. The insurer sold its closed UK life operations to Resolution Life Group for AGBP850m, comprising AGBP750m of cash with...

Dramatic fall from grace for former major player.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... R&SA has bowed out of the market less than a decade since it was among the top five life offices. Just 10 years ago, Royal & SunAlliance was one of the five biggest life offices in the country, but last Friday it sold off its closed life...

Online pension help from Scottish Life.(Scottish Life Assurance Co.)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... SCOTTISH Life has launched a dedicated area on its Technical Centre website focussing on the run-up to pensions tax simplification. Designed to support IFAs in the run-up to a single pension tax regime coming into force, the site includes a...

Optoma to launch packager franchise.(Optoma Technology Inc.)
August 5, 2004... Optoma is launching a franchise of packagers based on its own model of business. The company, which also runs a network, is in talks with a number of packagers about setting up a business agreement. Any packager that takes on the...

'Act now' to put property in Sipps.(Self Invested Personal Pensions)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... SIPP investors who want to purchase commercial property must act now before their borrowing powers are slashed. This is according to Alexander Forbes Financial Services, which claimed self-invested personal pension investors needed to take...

Lenders use DPA to bypass brokers over follow-on info.(Data Protection Act)
August 5, 2004... Lenders are encouraging borrowers to avoid using brokers when following up on their mortgage. According to the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries, mortgage providers are citing the Data Protection Act, preventing brokers from receiving...

Malone to take lead in NU club merger move.(Norwich Union PLC)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... John Malone is expected to take the lead when his business, Premier Mortgage Services, is integrated with the Norwich Union club. Premier Mortgage Services was bought by Bankhall in January, a move which was followed by the purchase of...

Exchange puts client database on Exweb.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... THE Exchange is to launch a central client database on its Exweb portal this summer. New services, including a client database and technical support, are being rolled out to the intermediary market during July and August. IFAs should...

Consumers were 'misled' by FSA.(Financial Services Authority )
August 5, 2004... THE City regulator stands accused of misleading consumers in one of its pensions leaflets. The leaflet -- FSA guide to the risks of opting out of your employer's pension scheme -- advised in 1999 that payouts for defined benefits and final...

Survey finds big support for fees.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... The vast majority of IFAs view moving to a fee-based structure as essential, according to a survey by Winterthur Life. The survey revealed that 92 per cent of IFAs said a move to a fee-based proposition was either "essential" or...

White secures appointment with Dexia as senior private banker.(Dexia Private Banking )
August 5, 2004... General Simon White has joined Dexia Private Banking as senior private banker. Based in the London office, Mr White will have responsibility for building relationships with clients and their existing advisers. Mr White, whose career...

Hobman takes regulator role.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... THE Department for Work and Pensions has appointed of Tony Hobman as chief executive to the pensions regulator. Mr Hobman is chief executive of the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority. He has held the position since April 2002. Prior...

Higher charges hit critical illness sales.
August 5, 2004... PROTECTION broker Lifesearch says higher premiums and key withdrawals from the guaranteed critical illness market have hit sales. The past 12 months have seen rapid growth in the share of critical illness sales accounted for by reviewable...

Equity release business drops.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Companies operating in the equity release market have reported a drop in business in the first half of this year. Safe Home and Income Plans, the body that represents 90 per cent of the equity release sector, said that the value of new...

Nationwide data shows no housing cooldown.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... HOPES that the housing market was cooling were quashed last week as Nationwide produced strong housing figures for July. However, the evidence was immediately called into question by a large chain of estate agents, which reported falls in...

Pensions Ombudsman calls for help.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... THE Pensions Ombudsman has renewed his calls for further assistance as the number of complaints he receives rises. In his annual report for the year ending 31 March, David Laverick revealed he had conducted 1050 investigations in 2003-04,...

Politicians go back to the future.
August 5, 2004... THE old ideas are often the best ideas. So it is hardly surprising that the financial services sector has been uncharacteristically friendly to proposals from the Treasury select committee. After more than 50 submissions and 40 hours...

Yorkshire is latest lender to cut rates.
August 5, 2004... The Yorkshire Building Society has become the latest lender to reduce the rates on its fixed-rate mortgages. Citing falling swap rates, the mutual has come out with a raft of fixed-rate home loans that amount to reductions of up to 0.25 of...

Consultation over reversion schemes.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... LEGAL pitfalls that could hinder the regulation of home reversion schemes are to be discussed. The Treasury is consulting on what legislation is needed to make home reversion schemes apply for FSA regulation. It is the first stage...

Employers, employees and the government can end any crisis.(Interview)
August 5, 2004... FINANCIAL ADVISER: You have just spent the last few months working on the CBI's latest pension report. One of the most controversial suggestions was raising the retirement age to 70. What impact do you feel that will make on the pension...

Why the FSA's latest acronym is a bit OTT.(Financial Services Authority)(over the top)
August 5, 2004... Another week, another acronym. Last week, the FSA gave us a new one: TCF. My initial search through a database of many tens of thousands of verbal contractions came up with the phrase Tactical Combat Force. Given that the FSA actually uses...

Customers before profits? IF only-.(Editorial)
August 5, 2004... From time to time, I have found myself writing about my experiences with Intelligent Finance, the online bank owned by HBOS. In fairness, I haven't done so for a long time: by and large its service levels have improved significantly. So I offer...

Unplanned relaxation.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... JUST when IFAs thought their reputation could not be tarnished any further, financial adviser Corinne Maier decided to have her say with a guide on how to survive without doing any work. Ms Maier's work, Hello Laziness, was designed to be an...

We read it for the sports...(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... WHO said brokers and lenders do not get on? Not Platform's Guy Batchelor and Kevin Duffy, of Hamptons International Mortgages, despite the latter's pensive gaze. The two mortgage personalities met, according to Mr Duffy, by accident, at the...

Who are you calling dull?(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... LET'S face it -- compliance directors have a reputation for being a little bit dull. But there is no way that you would say that to Ben Goh. The secretary of the Compliance Register has a hobby that means you should probably stay on his good...

Firms rebel against FSCS levy.(Financial Services Compensation Scheme )(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... SEVERAL IFAs hit by the large FSCS levy hike are refusing to pay it, despite the risk of being struck off. The increases to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme levy are affecting more than 4000 IFAs, many of whom are refusing to pay...

Foot in door to follow?(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... DWS Investments has really gone to town with the marketing ideas for its new roadshows. The series, starting at the end of August, is treating IFAs to professional speaker Philip Hesketh's introduction to using their "powers of persuasion" to...

Victim of own success.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... POOR Charcol -- as if it hasn't had enough of a tough time regarding its sale, Skipton Building Society is now taking a jab. Clearly desperate to prove that its spokesmen can offer food for thought to match that offered by Charcol's Ray...

IFA fined for insider dealing.(independent financial adviser )(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... AN ADVISER for the UK's 15th largest IFA firm has been fined for insider dealing. Michael Davies was handed a AGBP1000 penalty from the FSA after trading shares in Berkeley Morgan Group. Mr Davies traded the shares after becoming aware...

Heavily in hock.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... UK debt has passed the AGBP1 trillion mark -- in case you wonder, this is not the old-fashioned billion-billion, but the Americanised thousand billion. Even allowing for the fact that most of this is mortgage debt, it still tells an...

FSA to ensure best practice for clients.(Financial Services Authority)
August 5, 2004... REGULATORS will work hand-in-hand with firms to ensure that customers are being treated fairly. FSA inspectors will go to financial services firms and ensure that all staff are applying best-practice principles. This comes as the...

Will Lisa save the day for savers?(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Friends and colleagues who know me will know that I am not by instinct a follower of the Conservative Party, to put it mildly. But I have to say that, on the face of it, the publication the other week of the Conservatives' plans for a...

Brown's comic act is too serious for laughs.(Editorial)
August 5, 2004... IF the issue of long-term savings were not so serious, this government's inability to design a pensions policy for the early 21st century would have been the subject of cheap laughs on the alternative comedy circuit. But chancellor Gordon...

Cleaning behind the refrigerator.
August 5, 2004... Lest anyone think that this columnist is not aware of territories north of the Watford Gap or of issues affecting IFAs working outside the M25, this is the week we go local, more particularly Yorkshire. How lucky can you IFAs working in...

Falling short of requirements.
August 5, 2004... THE Treasury committee report on restoring confidence in long-term savings highlights some important issues and raises some valid criticisms of financial services industry practices and the role of advisers. However, its recommendations...

Nice moves to beat the taxman.
August 5, 2004... The Inland Revenue, and hence HM Treasury and Her Majesty's Government, seem to have become totally cheesed off with anyone who even looks like they may be able to avoid paying some tax. There is to be a reporting procedure for "schemes"...

It all used to be much simpler.
August 5, 2004... WHEN we communicate with clients any information we provide must be clear, fair and not misleading. That is common sense for any business that is not run by a gentleman wearing a 10-gallon hat and wielding a six shooter -- and I do not mean a...

If you build it, they will come.
August 5, 2004... YES, the topic of wrap is endless, and yes it is currently more of a hot topic than a widely used tool, but it is difficult not to take interest in a subject that for so long was dismissed by many as having little chance of a UK presence....

IFA claims FSA deprives rights.(independent financial adviser)(Financial Services Authority)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... AN IFA challenging the rule of the FSA claimed the government has deprived intermediaries of their rights. Simon Mansell, a senior partner for Worcester-based IFA Temple Bar, said intermediaries were prevented from receiving justice. ...

A nice idea, but do they deliver?
August 5, 2004... A new generation of tools and services look set to ease IFAs' work involved in asset allocation, but is the promise of a reduction of time and cost simply too good to be true? Fund supermarkets and manager of managers are a case in point....

Expert predicts tough year for equities.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... DESPITE higher investor confidence equities will still struggle to outperform property as an investment class, according to James Dalby, head of investment strategy for IFA Bates. Mr Dalby argued that equities would struggle for the rest of...

Lukewarm welcome for Swip bond funds.
August 5, 2004... Three new bond funds from Scottish Widows Investment Partnership have received a lukewarm response from IFA Chelsea Financial Services. The three funds include a Swip High Yield Bond fund, which will be managed by Gareth Quantrill. This...

Coventry unveils three fixed-rate bonds.(Coventry Building Society)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... COVENTRY Building Society has launched a range of fixed-rate bonds. The first bond is fixed at 5.75 per cent until 31 December 2005, the second is fixed at 5.86 per cent until 30 September 2006, while the longest bond is fixed at 6.01 per...

Cautious reaction to manager's sabbatical.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... THE decision by Isis's James Foster to take a 10-week sabbatical has generated mixed responses from industry players. Mr Foster, who manages the Isis Strategic Bond and the Isis Extra Income Bond Funds, will take the time off next year. ...

Rates down but fees up at Norwich and Peterborough.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... NORWICH and Peterborough Building Society has reduced the rates across its range of fixed deals, but simultaneously upped its reservation fee. The new reservation fee of AGBP345, up from AGBP245, applies to all the new fixed rate deals...

Future of offsets 'rests on targeting of clients'.
August 5, 2004... THE future success of offset mortgages is resting upon the ability of advisers and lenders to target the right customers. John Roe, an associate with IFA Clifton Associates, said: "I think they are quite a good idea if they are given to the...

A&L discounts and fixes get thumbs-up.(Alliance & Leicester PLC)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... ALLIANCE & Leicester's new range of discounted and fixed mortgages have received an enthusiastic response from IFA Sarah Killick. Ms Killick, who works for London-based IFA Cavendish Young, said: "These are cracking deals. "The...

Don't turn your back on the state pension.
August 5, 2004... PENSION scheme members still contracted out of the state pension should revisit their options, a leading pensions adviser has warned. Kenneth Moore, principal of Kenneth Moore Financial Services and director of Fee Based Advice, said the...

Funds make life very hard for FTSE bosses.(Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... Ros Altmann, pensions policy adviser, has welcomed the news that FTSE bosses are spending nearly half of their time dealing with pension fund issues. In this week's Firing Line. Jay Sheth, senior policy adviser of the Confederation of...

On track with investments.
August 5, 2004... TRACK Two of Financial Adviser's Expo 2004 will focus on investments and asset management. It will open with a breakfast briefing from DWS Investments. The fund manager's senior market analyst David Chellew will lead the briefing at the...

New laws may lead to less opting to be trustees.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... FORTHCOMING pension legislation could "scare away" employees who want to act as trustees, a leading business consultant has claimed. Mellon Financial Corporation's Human Resources & Investor Solutions also said trustees needed to be made...

Tax-free but problem-packed.
August 5, 2004... 'The concept is simple but it has complex implications.' How many times have we heard that phrase used in pensions? This time I am talking about 20:1, the multiple to be used for valuing pension entitlements when testing against the statutory...

A long way from being all at sea.
August 5, 2004... WHEN most advisers think of offshore life products, taxation usually springs to mind first. In particular, most advisers would be very familiar with the gross roll-up basis of the funds linking to such policies and to the advantageous tax...

Waiting for a shambles.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... PENSIONS -- and long-term savings generally -- as we have said before, are proving to be this government's Achilles heel. Cast your mind back to May 1997 and the months that followed: Harriet Harman was appointed secretary of state for the...

Sifa directory conditions rule out majority of IFAs.(Independent Financial Advisers )(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... THE Sifa directory of professional advisers, due for September launch, has been lambasted by Colin Jackson for being too selective. Ian Muirhead, managing director of Sifa, said the criteria was selected to ensure that only high net-worth...

Call to follow Friends Provident's online lead.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... ADVISERS are calling on providers to follow Friends Provident in launching an income protection application form in an online format. Chris McMullen, managing director of McMullen Insurance in Bournemouth, said: "Five years ago the online...

MPs call to axe commission attacked by Isis director.(Member of Parliament)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... IFAS dependent on commission-based business were last week being defended by Isis asset management. The support follows the Treasury Select Committee's proposal to scrap IFA commission. Jason Hollands, director of communications for...

SME rate relief plans 'smack in the face'.(small and medium-sized enterprise )(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... THE Forum of Private Business has blasted the latest proposals for small business rate relief. The proposals announced by Nick Raynsford, the local government minister, will make rate relief available at 50 per cent for business properties...

Norwich's alternative benefit will aid employers.(Norwich Union PLC)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... NORWICH Union's enhanced international corporate medical insurance could help employers seeking an alternative benefit to pensions. Brian Lentz, senior adviser of Portfolio Insurance Consultancy and Mortgage Brokers, welcomed Norwich Union...

ScotProv reprice 'may encourage reluctant'.(Scottish Provident International Life Assurance Ltd.)
August 5, 2004... SCOTTISH Provident's critical illness repricing might encourage take up among 'reluctant' 25 to 45 year-olds, a leading adviser has claimed. Last week the life and pensions arm of Abbey for Intermediaries said that from 9 August this year...

Beware the pitfalls of employee legislation.
August 5, 2004... Question: I realise that employment legislation is a minefield and unless I proceed with caution, I could face an employment tribunal claim. I have several full-time employees and I want to ensure that discrimination does not exist within my...

Time to switch onto the electronic world.
August 5, 2004... MANY IFAs are reluctantly considering joining the electronic world despite managing relatively well by conducting business over the telephone, postal service and possibly fax. But with depolarisation and statutory regulation in the mortgage...

A&L to verify its product details.(Alliance & Leicester PLC)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... ALLIANCE & Leicester is considering appointing a team to ensure product data is correct on sourcing systems by Mortgage Day. The lender said it was drafting its policy on how to verify product data held on online sourcing systems ahead of...

Online marketing opportunity provided by IFAP for its members.(Independent Financial Adviser Promotion)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... IFA Promotion has developed a guide outlining improvements to the way its IFA members can market themselves. IFAP has sent out a guide explaining the online marketing opportunity to its member firms. The IFAP search and white label...

Meetings, trains and a missed breakfast.(Calendar)
August 5, 2004... Monday It is 7.30am and I have a 50-mile drive from my home in Bury St Edmunds to Huntingdon where I am updating our East Anglia members at one of our regional meetings. I leave at 11am and drive into the City of London to our Gresham...

Culling rumours of HBOS brands.
August 5, 2004... NEWS of a dramatic drop in market share for lending giant HBOS has fuelled speculation of a brand portfolio cull. The group's interim results announcement last week revealed a 32 per cent fall in mortgage market share of new business,...

Access halts 'green' builds demand.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... LENDERS' reluctance to finance 'green' new builds is squashing homebuyers' increasing demands for eco-friendly houses, according to broker Mary Riley. Ms Riley, managing director of Advanced Flexible Self Build Mortgage in Alloa, Scotland,...

Register your views on M-Day to win a trip to Cannes.
August 5, 2004... THERE is just one week left to register your views on mortgage regulation in the Financial Adviser special report, Mortgage Day: Dawn of a new era. A very different marketplace will evolve following the introduction of statutory regulation...

Renting buoyed up by 30-somethings.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... THE rental market is being buoyed by a growing number of high-earning 30-somethings who are refusing to buy. More Than, the general insurance arm of Royal & Sun Alliance, claimed rising house prices had fuelled an 18 per cent rise in...

Teachers BS fixed rates do little to excite, says mortgage adviser.(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... TWO fixed-rate mortgages have been launched specifically for teachers. Teachers Building Society has introduced a three-year and a five-year fixed rate -- both available at low and high loans-to-value -- for teachers only. But IFA...

More networks gain their MTA letters.(Market Technicians Association)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... THE latest round of FSA minded to authorise letters has seen a swathe of networks receive their initial green light. More than six networks last week received the MTA letters as a pre-approval for authorisation in time for statutory...

First Direct defies parent with commission model.
August 5, 2004... HSBC has rejected the commission-based financial advice model at the same time as one of its subsidiaries is embracing it. First Direct is testing the water with its offset mortgage product for the intermediary market with London & Country,...

Lenders hoping for respite.
August 5, 2004... WITH regulation looming, lenders cannot afford to be unprepared. Most lenders have been working on their systems for a year or so, but while designing and planning are one thing, testing and implementing are quite another. It may be...

And then there were four?
August 5, 2004... IT SEEMS HBOS can do nothing to dent its position as the darling of the UK banking sector. The group, formed from the merger of Halifax and Bank of Scotland in September 2001, is widely liked by sector analysts, investors and the City -- and...

Steady as she goes.(Bank of England)
August 5, 2004... THE MPC rarely inflicts major surprises on the money markets, so when the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee announces its decision on interest rates today, a further 0.25 basis point rise in the base rate can be expected. Working on...

Clearing out or getting set up?
August 5, 2004... IF INDUSTRY speculation regarding HBOS's plans to scrap The Mortgage Business is true, HBOS marketers must be rubbing their hands with glee at the onset of statutory regulation. A number of lenders have either ramped up initial pay rates or, as...

Searching for a sensible rule.
August 5, 2004... AT the end of May, the FSA announced its second change to the time bar rules for endowment complaints in just over a year. It did not consult on the changes but just announced an emergency rule alteration. The emergency in question was a...

Equity release plan criticised.(independent financial adviser)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... THE idea for the government to back equity release plans has been heavily criticised by a leading IFA. Key Retirement Solutions, an IFA which specialises in equity release, said the government may be in a difficult position if it started...

Generally a happy shopper.
August 5, 2004... THIS month I want to look at some of the key findings from some recently published mystery shopping into how affordability issues are being addressed at the initial mortgage discussion. This mystery shopping review did not encompass a full...

A changing legal landscape.
August 5, 2004... THE landscape of the mortgage industry for mortgage intermediaries will be very different after Mortgage Day, and this will continue to change with general insurance regulation following soon after in January 2005. Changes to the legal...

Middleton named president of British Bankers Association.
August 5, 2004... Sir Peter Middleton, current chairman of Barclays, was appointed president of the British Bankers Association on 22 July. His appointment follows the retirement of Sir George Mathewson who was in the position for two years. Sir Peter is...

Xit2 offers menu to serve up new Hips.(Home information pack)(Brief Article)
August 5, 2004... HOME information pack processing could be tailor-made to individual lenders through a new "menu" solution. Xit2 has launched a system of processing solutions to support the introduction of HIPs in the housing market. Managing director...