Financial Advisor articles from December 2005

Financial Advisor archives from December 2005

Gov't breaking A-Day promise.
December 8, 2005... Mike Morrison, pension strategy manager for Winterthur Life, said: "It is strange that the government has moved to close the door on residential property in pensions altogether. "The market would actually have been self-limiting anyway,...

Brown acts to stop 'inequality'.
December 8, 2005... Steve Osbiston, regional director of London-based Baker Tilly Financial Services, said: "The changes to investment rules for pensions has got everybody talking. Continued publicity of the benefit of Sipps investing in residential property has...

VCT messages contradictory.
December 8, 2005... Ben Yearsley, IFA investment manager for Bristol-based Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The Pre-Budget report does not really say anything concrete on venture capital trusts. The increased tax relief, from 30 per cent to 40 per cent, runs out in...

Brown fails to clarify key issues.
December 8, 2005... THE PRE-Budget report failed to deliver clarity on a number of key tax issues, according to experts. Keydata Investment Services claimed the government's failure to reveal if tax breaks for VCTs will remain in place could cause a stampede...

Sipp sideswipe shocks industry.
December 8, 2005... THE LAST minute U-turn by the chancellor to stop residential property and exotic investments from enjoying the tax perks of pensions has angered the industry. The Treasury's Pre-Budget report said self-invested personal pensions would be...

New Product - Nationwide goes against the pack with reduced rate range.
December 8, 2005... NATIONWIDE Building Society has launched a new range of two, three, five and 10-year fixed-rate mortgages. The two-year fixed rate is available at 4.59 per cent up to 90 per cent loan-to-value, rising to 4.89 per cent for loans up to 95 per...

Yorkshire aids caring fun.
December 8, 2005... YORKSHIRE Building Society is helping bring the magic of Christmas to carers and disabled children with the launch of Caring Together, the name of this year's yuletide fundraising appeal supported by TV star Amanda Burton. From now until...

Takeover threat looming over IFAs, Plimsoll shows.(independent financial advisors)
December 8, 2005... INDUSTRY-wide research has shown more than one hundred IFA firms could become targets for acquisitions. The study by Plimsoll Publishing analysed the financial performance of 6962 financial services firms, including 1500 IFAs for the last...

Skipton uniting Pink and Direct Life.
December 8, 2005... SKIPTON Building Society has combined the insurance and mortgage networks of two of its subsidiaries, Pink Home Loans and Direct Life & Pension Services. The combined network, called Pink Home Loans Network, will use Pink to deliver...

New Product - Hornbuckle puts out helping hand.
December 8, 2005... SIPP specialist Hornbuckle Mitchell is to allow IFAs to white label its flagship pension plan. The company will provide advisers with the artwork to brand as their own the private pension's application form, new business illustrations and...

Report finally ushers in UK Reits.
December 8, 2005... REAL estate investment trusts will finally be introduced in January 2007, the Pre-Budget report revealed. Although the report failed to deliver comprehensive details of how the vehicles -- which are expected to pave the way for at least...

Experts getting set to discuss savings climate at CFS talks.
December 8, 2005... FINANCIAL Adviser is co-sponsoring The Centre of Future Studies second annual conference, following the success of last year's inaugural event. Today (Thursday) and tomorrow, The Savings Market conference -- which takes place at the...

Eq Life signs AGBP10m cheque to end case.
December 8, 2005... EQUITABLE Life has coughed up AGBP10m to end its eight-month long high court case against its former directors. After four years of wrangling and having paid out an estimated AGBP35m to top law firm Herbert Smith, the scandal-hit mutual...

C&G revamp set to tailor teams to IFAs.(Cheltenham & Gloucester )
December 8, 2005... CHELTENHAM & Gloucester has unveiled a shake-up of its intermediary sales force and pledged to offer more help to IFAs in Northern Ireland. The provider is overhauling what it calls its branch-led approach by deploying sales managers on a...

Debt levels put people off pension saving, reports ABI.
December 8, 2005... CONSUMER research by the ABI has revealed 8.3m people are still not saving anything at all for their retirement. The State of the Nation's Savings 2005, the consumer research conducted annually by the Association of British Insurers, showed...

New Product - Leeds attacked on a 'pathetic' rate.
December 8, 2005... LEEDS Building Society has launched a one-year fixed-rate bond. The product requires a minimum investment of AGBP5000 and offers a monthly interest option. Access is available on up to 50 per cent of the amount invested without...

Bankhall 'back doors' Aifa deal for its multis.
December 8, 2005... A deal struck by Bankhall with Aifa will give its multi-tied membership trade body representation, despite the Aifa decision to exclude multi-ties, Bankhall said. Bankhall IFAs will receive Association of IFAs representation for free as...

Let's go to work, says Mr Brown.
December 8, 2005... CHANCELLOR Gordon Brown stepped out with his Treasury team to deliver his ninth pre-Budget speech on Monday afternoon. Despite the Treasury only being a five-minute walk away from the House of Commons, Mr Brown opted to drive the short...

Treasury is taken to task on CTF take-up.
December 8, 2005... THE Treasury select committee has criticised both the Treasury and the Revenue for the slow take-up of CTF accounts. At a meeting about child trust funds last Wednesday, Ivan Lewis, economic secretary to the Treasury, and delegates from the...

BBB squares up for survival fight.
December 8, 2005... BERKELEY Berry Birch is fighting to raise capital to save the business from imminent FSA-enforced closure, a company director has said. Jonathan Hall, a non-executive director for BBB, said the UK's fourth largest IFA distribution network...

New Product - The Children's Mutual aims to bring Muslims into CTF.
December 8, 2005... THE Shariah Baby Bond is the name of the first UK child trust fund compliant with Islamic law. The CTF invests in a fund which is actively managed by Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, on behalf of provider The Children's Mutual, and...

New Product - BoS adds to its large loan range.
December 8, 2005... Bank of Scotland has launched a range of tracker and fixed-rate mortgages across its large loan and mainstream product range. For customers seeking a mortgage in excess of AGBP500,000 there is a two-year tracker offered at bank base rate...

India leads way in emerging markets -- JPMorgan AM.
December 8, 2005... INDIA has beaten China as the most popular emerging market among IFAs, a new poll has found. The survey, conducted by JPMorgan Asset Management, revealed 50 per cent of those questioned believed the sub-continent offered "excellent...

Discipline wins business for 7IM Oeic.
December 8, 2005... Assets under management of Seven Investment Management's Oeic have risen sharply as advisers searched for discipline for clients' pensions, according to Justin Urquhart Stewart. After building up to AGBP100m in the first 12 months, the 7IM...

Turner: Brown telling 'porkies'.
December 8, 2005... GORDON Brown was accused of "telling porkies" by Adair Turner after the Treasury briefed that it had never heard of his term "GDP billions" to explain the cost of his proposals. Lord Turner said: "GDP billions is a technical term the Treasury...

TBK advises to fill coffers.
December 8, 2005... IFA Turner Bates Kilminster is celebrating 15 years of providing independent financial advice by raising AGBP15,000 for local charity Cure Leukaemia. The Birmingham-based IFA is sponsoring Kay White, pictured with Neil Bates director of...

MPs are optimistic for report.
December 8, 2005... PARLIAMENTARIANS were keen to build consensus around Adair Turner's second report, but warned against divisive rows about detail. Pensions commentators from the Commons welcomed the thrust of Lord Turner's proposals and expressed optimism...

Halifax set to return cash stolen by fraudster agent.
December 8, 2005... VICTIMS of fraudster Graham Price will be reimbursed with interest, Halifax has announced. In an apparent change of policy, the provider said all 84 investors would be paid back the full amount they had lost, regardless of whether they...

Revamp leaves no room for advice, say providers.
December 8, 2005... PENSION experts questioned the lack of provision for advice in Adair Turner's proposals for pensions reform. There were warnings that the Pensions Commission's recommendations could lead to inappropriate action being taken by the public...

Employer compulsion 'not intellectual'.
December 8, 2005... A GOVERNMENT adviser has voiced her doubts about Adair Turner's plans for compulsory employer contributions. Ros Altmann said she did not "understand the intellectual case" for employer compulsion to make payments to the proposed National...

New Product - TFC launches online mortgage products.
December 8, 2005... TFC Homeloans has revealed that it is making Mortgages Plc's range of affordability products available online with tools to help work out clients' loan limits. Mortgages available include a 12-month and three-year discounted and two and...

Close, Morgan eye retail move.
December 8, 2005... TWO investment managers are launching into the retail mortgage market. Close Brothers, owners of network Mortgage Intelligence, is in discussions to set up a lending arm by the end of 2006 and Morgan Stanley has bought non-conforming...

Take care if using cascades, IFAs told.
December 8, 2005... MORTGAGE IFAs need to show caution when it comes to using a cascade system, providers have warned. Since going public with concerns two weeks ago, Peter Beaumont, sales and marketing director at Mortgages Plc, has received a number of...

Watchdog to look into effectiveness of M-Day.
December 8, 2005... MORTGAGE brokers face tough new changes following a review of consumer behaviour in the aftermath of regulations, Sir Callum McCarthy has said. Sir Callum, chairman of the FSA, issued his warning to the Council of Mortgage Lenders on...

Millfield quick to talk to FSA in deficit fear.
December 8, 2005... MILLFIELD is in crunch talks with the FSA to avert action over the network's budget deficit. Paul Tebbutt, chief executive of the Surrey-based group, said that the deficit had been anticipated and communicated to the City regulator and the...

Friends, HBoS buy into Thinc Destini.
December 8, 2005... FRIENDS Provident and HBoS Financial Services have each bought a 5 per cent stake in Thinc Destini. On Monday, the distributor revealed the two providers had each paid AGBP5m to purchase a 5 per cent share in the business, which has been...

Suffolk Life gets Talking on A-Day.
December 8, 2005... Specialist pension provider Suffolk Life has launched a regular technical e-bulletin in advance of pension simplification. Talking Points will address topical A-Day issues with an emphasis on Sipps. The first edition, entitled Contributions...

Bodies battle to stave off EU intervention.
December 8, 2005... EUROPEAN Union intervention in consumer information and advice regarding mortgages will prove costly and will not deliver greater integration, according to the FSA and HM Treasury. In a response to the European Commission's green paper on...

Turner leaving door open for advice.(Adair Turner)(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... One thing which is bound to disappoint FA readers about the Turner Report is the lack of any place for financial advice. I cannot find a single mention of it in the report -- although I admit I have not read every page. It appears that...

FSA all gummed up with fudge.
December 8, 2005... Here is the latest offering from the FSA fudge factory. When is a closed fund not a closed fund? Errr, we do not know, you tell us. A fund can decide it is closed even if it is taking new customers -- so long as it does not take too many....

Chancellor lands blow on Sipps.
December 8, 2005... GORDON Brown delivered a massive setback for the self-invested personal pension market and a raid on dormant accounts in his ninth Pre-Budget report. In his first Pre-Budget speech since Labour won a third term in May, the chancellor...

Ali Gee's monkey business.
December 8, 2005... You could be forgiven for giggling when phoning up Tenon Group, the business and accountancy advice group, with a press enquiry. Not only does it outsource PR to 3-Monkeys Communications, but try not sounding too cheeky when asking for Ali...

Scare stories cover up performance worries.
December 8, 2005... THE insurance industry is nothing if not predictable. The Turner Report had been published for barely an hour before insurers began lobbying over the National Pension Savings Scheme. The idea of new super funds run for a 0.3 per cent annual...

Chilling time feeds appeal.(Brief Article)
December 8, 2005... STAFF at Mortgage 2000 last week had a frightening experience. But, rather than worrying about the outlook for the mortgage markets, staff from the group and parent company moneysupermarket.com took part in a spooky sleepover to raise money...

The kids are all saving.
December 8, 2005... GONE are the days when British teenagers wanted to spend their pocket money on computer games and magazines. It now appears the youth of today are at the forefront of the new savings trend and yearn to be educated on finance and are most...

TMB looks to re-build its success amid 'irrelevant' scaremongering.(The Mortgage Business)(Interview)
December 8, 2005... FINANCIAL ADVISER: What changes are you hoping to make at The Mortgage Business and why? NIGEL PAYNE: It was well reported that The Mortgage Business pulled out of the market last year and so people had to go elsewhere to place their...

Footie at 40 is no fun.
December 8, 2005... ANDY Merricks, head of investments for West Sussex-based Skerrit Consultants, will not be kicking up a fuss in the financial industry for a number of weeks after writing himself off during a game of football. Mr Merricks, who is a...

The quest for better lifestyle.
December 8, 2005... THE long-awaited Turner report on pensions has lived up to the expectations Financial Adviser has always had in the final recommendations. When all about us were speculating on a micro-political report, we always believed that Adair Turner...

Compulsion is the report's missing link.
December 8, 2005... THE Turner Report, if it is adopted, will shape the pensions landscape for the next 45 years. That is a long time, even for the pensions sector. The question is: has Adair Turner come up with the answers to the pensions crisis? The short...

A little bit of TCF for the adviser.
December 8, 2005... Some time ago I was particularly struck by the summary of a case put before the Financial Ombudsman Service. Summarised, the advice given had been correct based on the information given by the client. However, the problem was that the...

Finding solutions to a problem it created.
December 8, 2005... THE Pensions Commission, set up following the Pensions Green Paper of 2002, has finally reported. After three years of work, Adair Turner has recommended raising the state pension age to 68, implementing a more generous universal state...

Dormant cash raid to fund teen projects.
December 8, 2005... GORDON Brown's much-anticipated raid on dormant bank and building society accounts is to be used to fund youth and community facilities. Industry experts and the Tories had proposed using the AGBP20bn of unused funds in dormant accounts to...

Bitter pill must be swallowed.
December 8, 2005... AFTER three years work, costing AGBP1.6m, producing two reports totalling more than 1000 pages and generating a week of turmoil before it was even published -- was Lord Turner's pension report worth the effort and the fuss? If you are the...

Pensions magic tricks revealed.
December 8, 2005... LIES, damn lies and manipulated statistics. Just as the Pensions Commission's second report was making its way through the printing presses, Gordon Brown decided to intervene. As with comedy, good timing in politics is crucial. Mr Brown...

Dawn of reason.
December 8, 2005... EQUITABLE Life is slowly coming to its senses and has decided to throw in the towel on what many objective observers have long realised was a futile waste of policyholders' money and court time. The decision to take legal action against it...

Marshalling the nation to beat the savings crisis.
December 8, 2005... THE publication of the Pensions Commission's second report on 30 November marks the end of a lengthy analysis of UK pensions and the start of the next stage of government deliberations on what to do to address the UK's pensions issues. It...

Divide to conquer confusion.
December 8, 2005... YOU are probably familiar with the principal tax planning techniques for Mr and Mrs Average Client and include tax saving measures along with all the other financial planning techniques you use when advising your clients. However, in my...

Finding the fuel for equity rises.
December 8, 2005... The FTSE 100 has performed magnificently so far this year. It began the year just above 4800 and at the time of writing is once again around the 5500 mark, representing a capital gain of just less than 14 per cent to the end of November. ...

Do not build on shifting sand.
December 8, 2005... A-DAY IS fast approaching and, taking into account the Christmas break, there is now very little time for employers who have not already done so to consider the potential impact of the new tax regime on their pension arrangements, to decide...

Only one way to defuse bomb.
December 8, 2005... A couple of weeks prior to the publication of Adair Turner's report into how best the government should tackle the pensions crisis, the news broke that the Pensions Commission would most likely recommend an increase in the basic state pension...

Even more food for thought.
December 8, 2005... The PUBLICATION last Wednesday of the Pensions Commission's final report marked a seminal point in the pensions debate. Uniting the three commissioners -- a former director general of the CBI, the president of the TUC and a distinguished...

Time for revolution has been squandered.
December 8, 2005... THE well-trailed Turner Report emerged amid mutterings from the Treasury about possible future costs: AGBP20bn a year, far in excess of what any government would be willing to pay in the future, it is claimed. Such complaints should be set...

A case of being when I am 64?
December 8, 2005... With all the talk about Turner, pensions tax simplification and the new Pensions Regulator, it is easy to forget another major piece of legislation that will affect all workplace pensions. This is the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006,...

Stepping into new territories.
December 8, 2005... This autumn has been an eventful time for the investment trust industry. The announcement of a proposed merger between JPMorgan Fleming Emerging Markets and F&C Emerging Markets is a significant milestone for the sector as it is a cross-manager...

Retirement Plus aims for fairer sharing.
December 8, 2005... Retirement Plus has launched a new equity release product, which involves the company owning part of the property. Duncan Young, chief executive of Retirement Plus, said the product was unlike any other because it had a proper interest in...

Time and A-Day wait for no one.
December 8, 2005... Insurance companies are taking several months, and in some cases, up to a year, to transfer funds to new schemes, according to IFAs and other pension providers. Christine Hallet, managing director of Sipp Solutions, a subsidiary of Pointon...

Progressive wins praise with buy-to-let offerings.
December 8, 2005... THE PROGRESSIVE Building Society's decision to enter the buy-to-let market has received a warm welcome by IFAs in Northern Ireland. Advisers said the lender had entered the sector at the right time, with investors in the region keen to...

First-timers' exile ends -- My Mortgage Direct claims.
December 8, 2005... FIRST-TIME buyers are returning to the mortgage market after an enforced exile caused by the deadlock of high property values and lack of accessible products, according to My Mortgage Direct. According to the broker firm, over the past...

Experts warn of price threat to claim refusals.
December 8, 2005... MORE claims could be refused in future due to low prices and increasingly long application forms, according to experts. Jason King, managing director of West Midlands-based Life Policies Direct, said the climate of low protection prices and...

Axa research reveals huge jump in life cover costs.
December 8, 2005... LIFE assurance and protection can be up to four times more expensive at nearly 60 than at 30, new research has revealed. A report by Axa has found that a protection portfolio -- including life cover, critical illness cover and income...

IFAs urged to put best case forward to the FSA quickly.
December 8, 2005... IFAS dealing with the FSA have been advised to make their very best case as early as possible, by a public law specialist. Andrew Lidbetter, a partner at Herbert Smith, said that any attempt to challenge the FSA on the merits through...

Tenon warns entrepreneurs to set realistic exit strategy.
December 8, 2005... Small businesses need a proper exit strategy after a quarter of small business bosses told researchers that that they are thinking of selling up. The study, which targeted the senior directors of 500 small and medium-sized businesses,...

Advisers warn high technology prices are proving a real turn off.
December 8, 2005... Gadgets such as mobile data cards may be too pricey for IFAs, according to an adviser. Kevin Morgan, principal of IFA Consilium, said that although the technology had the potential to be very useful to IFAs, the costs were sometimes...

It's a soup swap for L&G.
December 8, 2005... STAFF at Legal & General have raised AGBP5376 for homeless charity Crisis by giving up restaurant lunches for soup. The initiative, the brainchild of Steve Barrey, senior manager for customer resolutions (pictured), asked staff to pay just...

Firms urged to be on alert for CV deceptions.
December 8, 2005... Small businesses should take care to fully check the credentials of new employees, according to the director of a recruitment firm. Even if the person in question was supplied by a headhunting firm, it is unlikely that their CV will have...

Balancing meetings and a filling inbox.
December 8, 2005... MONDAY I rise at my usual 6am and, after making my delightful wife a cup of coffee, head to my study to get some paperwork out of the way. At 8am, I jump onto my shiny new scooter and breeze past the traffic -- and congestion charge --...

Rule out bullying by setting the boundaries.
December 8, 2005... Question: I am part of a consortium that has recently acquired a financial services business. Since the takeover, we have received a number of complaints from workers claiming to be victims of bullying in the workplace. It has become apparent...

Andrews leaves DWS for Credit.
December 8, 2005... CREDIT Suisse Asset Management has hired Stephen Andrews as head of third-party sales and strategic alliances. Mr Andrews, previously head of investment partners and IFA sales for DWS Investments, will take on responsibility for...

Big loan hunters targeted by John Charcol.
December 8, 2005... JOHN Charcol has launched a two-year tracker remortgage deal for large loans with a rate of bank base rate minus 0.05 of a percentage point and a current pay rate of 4.45 per cent. For borrowers with mortgages between AGBP300,000 and...

IHT policy needs attention.
December 8, 2005... Colin Jelley, head of tax and financial planning for Skandia, said: "It looks like the Treasury has not had time to think through changes to inheritance tax coming from the consultation that closed in September. It has said it will announce...

Leitch paints bleak skills picture for UK.
December 8, 2005... SANDY Leitch took time away from his forthcoming Intrinsic venture to deliver the interim report of his study into the skills shortage in the UK. Lord Leitch has been charged by the government with the task of examining the UK's long-term...

Reits are a 'positive move'.
December 8, 2005... Mehrdad Yousefi, head of intermediary mortgages for Alliance & Leicester, said the introduction of Reits legislation was a major revolution in the commercial property sector. Mr Yousefi said: "This is a positive move for UK property...

FSA urged to clarify regulation boundaries.
December 8, 2005... SCORES of advisers may be mistakenly thinking that protection rules apply to them, according to a specialist protection adviser. Dr Penny O'Nions, principal of Buckinghamshire-based the Onion Group, said this was due to a lack of clarity...