Financial Advisor articles from October 2005

Financial Advisor archives from October 2005

Scarboro' offers novel mortgage.
October 6, 2005... Scarborough Building Society claims to have launched the UK's first self-funding holiday mortgage. Investors are offered a range of base rate tracker and fixed-rate products starting at a rate of 5.39 per cent. The applicant's...

NAPF speaks out on the PPF.
October 6, 2005... THE National Association of Pension Funds has slammed the government for referring the cost of claims from dissolved compensation schemes to the Pension Protection Fund. Concern was raised because the PPF is being expected to pick up the...

Aifa members reject multi-ties.(Association of Independent Financial Advisers )
October 6, 2005... MEMBERS of Aifa have voted to deny multi-tied advisers representation by the trade body but will create a new brand for whole-of-market, commission-only intermediaries. The Association of IFAs will create the new arm to accommodate...

Rock is 'solid' in weakening house market.
October 6, 2005... THE weakening housing market has not affected business volumes at Northern Rock. In a trading update for nine months up to 30 September, the Newcastle-based mortgage lender said it was on target to achieve annual growth in assets of...

Cheshire cuts lead to loss of 70 jobs.
October 6, 2005... CHESHIRE Building Society is slashing staff numbers in a bid to save millions of pounds. The move to cut 70 jobs at its head office and close four branches is the result of a review by Karen McCormick, the new chief executive. She said...

L&G revs up Sipps campaign.
October 6, 2005... Adrian Boulding, pensions strategy director for Legal & General, appears in a television advert urging action on Sipp investment. Driven to Retirement cites the overhaul of borrowing rules set for April 2006. The message to advisers with...

FSAS joins ranks with IFA alliance.
October 6, 2005... The UK's only Scotland-based IFA network has joined the ranks of the IFA Consortium. Financial Services Advice and Support, a Dunfermline-based IFA network, has been in negotiations to join the alliance of IFA groups and networks for three...

Executive quintet quits HBoS group.(senior directors resign)
October 6, 2005... THE EXODUS of senior managers from HBoS banking group has continued with the departure of five more from the group. On Tuesday it was announced that the five, including Michael Bolton, head of specialist lending for HBoS, would be joining...

New Product - Skandia offers ethical fund.
October 6, 2005... Skandia Investment Management has launched a multi-manager ethical fund. Alan Durrant, chief investment officer for Skandia, will oversee the fund managers. JPMorgan Asset Management will administer the segregated mandate while the...

Bankhall unveils new multi-tie proposition at Monte Carlo show.
October 6, 2005... ENHANCED commission rates and a buyer for retiring advisers' businesses were offered to Bankhall IFAs to encourage them to consider joining the group's multi-tie proposition. David Golder, partnership director of Bankhall Investment...

Bancassurers lead the pack in the depolarised market.
October 6, 2005... BANCASSURERS have adapted to the newly depolarised world quicker than IFAs and increased their market share as a result, according to Paul Hogarth. Mr Hogarth, strategic marketing consultant for Bankhall, said a Datamonitor survey showed...

Technology must add value, says Standard's wrap man.(Brief Article)
October 6, 2005... ADVISERS must demand wrap providers deliver technology that adds value for their clients, according to Standard Life's wrap architect. Mark Williamson, the Australian consultant who is building the mutual society's wrap, said technology...

Call to reform state pensions.
October 6, 2005... THE STATE pension system is too complicated for the average person to understand, according to the majority of IFAs. Research by financial services group Axa found that nearly three-quarters of IFAs wanted a "fundamental overhaul" of the...

New Product - Skipton offers 'pick & fix' range.
October 6, 2005... SKIPTON Building Society has launched a fixed-rate bond range. The new range includes one, two and three-year options that all pay 4.76 per cent gross every year, plus a monthly income option with a return of 4.56 per cent. Jennifer...

House prices continue to fall.
October 6, 2005... HOUSE prices have continued to fall, allowing buyers to take the initiative, Nationwide has said. The monthly report showed prices dropped by 0.2 per cent in September, although interest rates have renewed buyer interest. The annual...

Sipps tax can give unquoted firms a lift.
October 6, 2005... PROPOSED tax charges on some Sipp assets could stimulate investment in unquoted companies, according to Hotbed. The private investor network predicts that the self-invested personal pension market will triple by 2009, but warns that the...

IFAs have to rethink sales plan -- expert.(Independent Financial Adviser)(Anthony Morris)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2005... WORKING harder and selling differently is the key to increasing profit margins of IFA businesses, according to an industry expert. In a keynote speech at this year's Bankhall conference, Anthony Morris, financial planning specialist, said...

IFP bags trio of northern IFAs.
October 6, 2005... YORKSHIRE-based IFA Informed Financial Planning has snapped up three IFA businesses in a swoop worth more than AGBP1m. The acquisition of the three intermediary businesses in Leeds, Sheffield and Hull is the start of a drive by IFP to take...

IFAs opt for multi-manager.
October 6, 2005... IFAs are more comfortable outsourcing fund selection and monitoring in an increasingly regulated environment, according to Credit Suisse Asset Management. A survey by CSAM has revealed 36 per cent of intermediaries polled said they chose...

New Product - Scarboro's Apple for the client.
October 6, 2005... SCARBOROUGH Building Society, seeking to expand its new mortgage business, has launched another incentive programme. Customers will receive a comprehensive Apple iMac G5 computer package worth AGBP2600, should they take out one of the two...

Hundreds flock to Harrogate.
October 6, 2005... More than 600 delegates flocked to the second leg of Financial Adviser Expo 2005 in Harrogate to hear views from industry leaders. Top of the bill was Walter Merricks, chief ombudsman for the Financial Ombudsman Service, who discussed...

FSA to take bundling info out of retail clients' hands.
October 6, 2005... The FSA has proposed the introduction of dedicated bodies to handle disclosed information on soft commission and bundling on behalf of retail investors. The plans are included in consultation paper 05/13, a 38-page report that looks into...

Charges call leaves IMA 'disappointed and baffled'.
October 6, 2005... The Investment Management Association has branded the FSA's proposals on disclosing bundled brokerage "baffling". The IMA expressed its disappointment at the FSA consultation paper shortly after its publication last week. The...

Rapid longevity rise points to longer working -- experts.
October 6, 2005... MOST people face a longer working life as life expectancy increases, experts in the pension industry have warned. The comments follow the release of a report by the Actuarial Profession's Continuous Mortality Investigation that found...

Bodies must stick to role, say trustees.
October 6, 2005... Trustees were broadly supportive of FSA proposals on the unbundling of broker commissions, but warned that the role of representative must not go beyond trustees' expertise. The Depositary and Trustee Association spoke after the FSA...

New Product - 2CG in Europe first.
October 6, 2005... 2CG has launched the first continental European income fund in the UK. Investors who commit AGBP100,000 or more into the Zenith European Income fund in the institutional shares class, available through IFAs, in the launch period up until...

Do not Sipp your wine too fast, says Magnum.
October 6, 2005... IFAs should be wary of companies offering esoteric Sipp investments that have not yet been approved, according to Magnum Fine Wines. The chancellor's announcement that the rules applying to Sipp investment could possibly allow for the...

A-Day info 'could be out of date' after rejig.(Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs )(Brief Article)
October 6, 2005... Pensions consultants have warned that A-Day advice could be out of date following new guidance from HM Revenue & Customs. First Actuarial highlighted alterations in the Revenue's interpretation of the pension simplification changes that...

New Product - Winterthur offers a fast-track pension.
October 6, 2005... Winterthur Life has launched a personal pension with a fast-track to self-investment facility. The online easy-switch option offers the chance to change to full self-investment post A-Day that includes a valuation facility for advisers....

American Express wrap service adds 4 more adviser teams.(Brief Article)
October 6, 2005... AMERICAN Express' adviser service celebrated landing deals with four more IFAs this week for its wrap programme. Nottingham-based IFA Arden Court and its team of 16 staff has joined, with the intention of working to a fee-based structure....

Sipp rule proposals welcomed.
October 6, 2005... PLANS to cast the net wider on regulated investment options for self-invested personal pensions have been welcomed by providers. The Treasury consultation document, entitled Changes to Eligibility Rules for Establishing a Pension Scheme,...

New Product - Median launches 'impressive' protection insurance plan.
October 6, 2005... MEDIAN Insurance, a division of Lloyd's broker Monument, has launched Smartgard, a mortgage payment protection insurance product. The product offers a 10 per cent no claims bonus plus full accident, sickness and unemployment cover. Accident...

ABI requires improvement from insurance companies.
October 6, 2005... Insurance companies will have to demonstrate improving customer service standards to comply with new proposals from the Association of British Insurers. The ABI will make new requirements from member insurers as the first step in following...

Unit-linked policies edge past with profits.
October 6, 2005... There has been a 38 per cent fall in with profit pension maturity values over the past three years, and unit-linked values are beginning to overtake them, according to a survey. The survey of the with profit and unit-linked pension markets...

Knowing the cost of fashion.(survey on spending behavior of singletons)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2005... Singletons would rather hang on to last year's threads than confine unfashionable garb to the garbage bin, according to a new report by Barclays Insurance Services. As a result, many are underestimating the value of their wardrobe should...

Trusts to evolve into large Sipp player, claims AITC.
October 6, 2005... INVESTMENT trusts will slowly evolve to become a bigger part of self-invested personal pensions, according to the Association of Investment Trust Companies. Daniel Godfrey, director general of the AITC, said investment trusts would prove a...

City gets ready for Standard Life float.
October 6, 2005... STANDARD Life is set to commit to demutualisation by the end of October, according to City analysts. The UK's largest mutual has refused to confirm claims that members could be in for a windfall of up to AGBP1000 each upon demutualisation,...

Tories attack Labour's poor pension record.
October 6, 2005... CONSERVATIVE veteran Sir Malcolm Rifkind painted a bleak picture of squalor and suffering this week when he put the spotlight once more on the savings gap. Speaking at the Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool, the shadow work and...

Advisers dabble in the buy-to-let market.(Brief Article)
October 6, 2005... NEARLY half of mortgage intermediaries, 46 per cent, have invested in buy-to-let property themselves, according to UCB Home Loans. The specialist lending division of Nationwide conducted a poll with more than 1200 advisers, asking about...

Equitable drops more court cases.
October 6, 2005... THE high court cases brought by troubled Equitable Life seem to be in disarray as the mutual has dropped part of its AGBP1.7bn claim against two directors. It has also dropped part of its case against former chief executive Chris Headdon....

Scot Wids snubs compulsion solution.
October 6, 2005... SCOTTISH Widows has hit out at claims from providers that compulsion is the only way to solve the UK's pensions crisis. Speaking at a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party Conference, Ian Naismith, head of pensions market development for...

IFA mis-selling still rife -- FSA.
October 6, 2005... MIS-SELLING is still rife in the IFA market, according to a senior City regulator. Clive Briault, managing director of retail markets for the FSA, told the Association of IFAs conference that there was still a worrying amount of evidence...

IFAs must get ready for Microsoft's Vista.
October 6, 2005... IFA IT specialists are the latest group to warn of the dangers of not checking back office systems with the new Microsoft operating system Vista. The news follows a caution from financial companies about the compatibility of existing IFA...

More gloom than boom could lead to Doomsday.
October 6, 2005... A FEW years ago, I attended a talk by Bill Mott, the experienced man behind Credit Suisse's Income fund, where he painted some alternative pictures for the UK economy. Among them was a doomsday scenario. In this he envisaged house prices...

Ending the threat of Sipp cowboys.(Self-Invested Personal Pension)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2005... REGULAR readers of this column will know I am a big fan of Sipps. I believe the flexibility and transparency they offer makes them the ideal investment wrapper for retirement saving. But I have seen enough headlines recently to convince me...

New Product - Virtual Net adds new IFA reference library.
October 6, 2005... IFA NETWORK Virtual Net has launched an online technical library for members. Access is free to IFAs that already hold a subscription with Virtual Net through the site. Junior Sobowale, chief executive of Virtual Net, said the service...

New Star answers clients' cautious cravings.(New Star Asset Management Ltd.)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2005... BEFORE unleashing any product on the market, firms should ask themselves a couple of simple questions: First, what is the point of this? Second, is it better than everything else currently out there? If answered honestly then most...

Murrell has gift of the gab.(Tony Murrell )(Brief Article)
October 6, 2005... BOSSES at Bankhall were collared by the boys in blue while filming a video to welcome delegates to the annual conference. The video -- which featured Paul Hogarth, Peter Mann and Tony Murrell rushing out of Bankhall's head office wearing...

The corridors of power.
October 6, 2005... MIKE Munford, head of investment marketing for Axa -- one of the conference's sponsors -- had a brush with power in the corridors of his Monte Carlo hotel. Fresh from South Africa and claims of an attempted coup, Mark Thatcher, son of Iron...

A market in need of rules.(Self-Invested Personal Pension )
October 6, 2005... THE feeding frenzy which has surrounded the changes to pensions provision planned for A-Day next April have had most responsible people very concerned. Many of those, not known for being alarmists, have been predicting a disaster waiting...

IFA in court for deception.
October 6, 2005... AN IFA accused of deceiving two people out of AGBP230,000 has appeared in a magistrates' court in Northern Ireland charged with dishonestly obtaining money. Andrew Folland, 36, an IFA with addresses in both Londonderry and Dublin, is...

The CII is working towards one trade body for the industry.
October 6, 2005... FINANCIAL ADVISER: Could you tell us about your background and qualifications for your new role with the CII? PETER HALES: I have been in the life and pensions and financial services industry for 37 years. Through a series of mergers with...

Equitable Strife.(Brief Article)
October 6, 2005... THE longer the Equitable Life saga goes on, the more perplexing it becomes. The latest in this undignified soap opera is that the troubled mutual has dropped all allegations against two of its former directors but will continue -- for the...

Sunk, rather than drunk.(Brief Article)
October 6, 2005... THE Bankhall Financial Annual Sales Conference may have made a splash in Monte Carlo. But Richard Howells, marketing director of Bankhall, revealed one of the five luxurious yachts the distribution giant had hoped to host its welcome...

It's the nightmare on Eurolife Street.(Financial Services Authority)
October 6, 2005... ONCE upon a time, there was a financial services company which decided to offer investors an unbeatable deal: a nice regular income plus their money back provided they were prepared to wait a while. The executives of this organisation...

Paying for experience and knowledge.
October 6, 2005... Some articles lately have discussed the spurious value of press releases with less than rigorous surveys and conclusions of equally dubious value. I am, however, grateful to Tony Hazell (Financial Adviser, 29 September) for drawing my...

Time for a touch of class action.
October 6, 2005... At first glance the connection between IFAs and class action litigation in the US might seem somewhat remote, but the reality is that this could not be further from the truth. All of those individuals and firms who are in the chain that...

It's because of oil prices, stupid.
October 6, 2005... For most of his tenure, Gordon Brown and the Treasury have made rather bullish economic forecasts about UK economic growth. Until last year, the UK economy turned out to be as good as Mr Brown's team had forecast, more or less. In his...

From gradual saving to graduation ceremony.
October 6, 2005... The following is an idea for some of your wealthier clients, particularly parents of children who look as if they are likely to go to university. Many children of well-off parents tend to go to private schools these days and the natural...

Lost in litigation.
October 6, 2005... The latest chapter in the Equitable Life saga has just concluded, with the claim brought by the company against its former auditors, Ernst & Young, being dropped. The collapse of the case has been described by Mark Hapgood QC, counsel to...

There goes the retirement.
October 6, 2005... ON arrival at the hotels in Monte Carlo, delegates were delighted to receive a Just Retirement stress toy in the shape of a VW Beetle and a leather passport holder. The prices of goods in shops in Monte Carlo -- where the high street is...

Hit hard by towering charges.
October 6, 2005... VERY few in the personal finance industry have heard of a government project entitled Decent Homes Standards, in which millions of pounds is due to be spent on improving housing stock across England and Wales. The reason the policy may...

It's magical Monte Carlo for Bankhall.
October 6, 2005... MONTE Carlo, playground of the rich and famous, played host to Bankhall's annual conference and gala awards dinner. More than 800 Bankhall members and provider sponsors supped under the stars as the roof at the Sporting Club slowly opened...

Jupiter Enviro Income's broad appeal.
October 6, 2005... THE launch of the new Jupiter Environmental Income fund, which aims to produce a 3.1 per cent yield in addition to capital growth, will not only appeal to ethical clients, according to an IFA. Jim Clancy, a financial planner for...

Belgravia gets behind Leeds' postal tracker.(Leeds & Holbeck Building Society)(Paul White of Belgravia Insurance Consultants)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2005... A new tracker savings account from Leeds Building Society is an attractive proposition, according to an investment specialist. Paul White, a consultant for London-based Belgravia Insurance Consultants, said the initial rate for the postal...

And now the end is near...
October 6, 2005... Nobody is ever going to declare the pension review officially to be over. However, the signs are growing that 2005 is going to be the nearest thing to a final year for the whole project. A recent Association of IFAs newsletter showed great...

BBA agrees to review AERs after industry calls.(British Bankers Association)(annual equivalent rates)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2005... The British Bankers Association has announced plans to review annual equivalent rate guidance notes, following issues raised by Moneyfacts.co.uk. The online finance portal contacted the association due to concerns over the advertisement of...

New A&L two-year fixed rate is 'market leading'.(Alliance & Leicester PLC)
October 6, 2005... Alliance & Leicester's new two-year fixed rate of 4.19 per cent with no extended tie-in has been described as "market leading" by an IFA. Adrian Bryant, from Bristol-based Clifton Associates, said that the product compares favourably with...

B&B rolls out quick stepped tracker plan.
October 6, 2005... Bradford & Bingley is offering a stepped tracker mortgage with a 72-hour offer time funded by Norwich & Peterborough. The mortgage comes with an initial rate of 4.5 per cent for the first year, moving to 4.75 per cent for the second year...

Top earners need more S32 options, says IFA.(Independent Financial Adviser)
October 6, 2005... The pensions needs of top earners are being neglected, according to an IFA. Carl Lamb, director of Norwich-based Almary Green, said the only way to protect lump sums larger than 25 per cent was to transfer them into a Section 32 policy....

Reconsider Equitable with profits -- Lansdown.(Brief Article)
October 6, 2005... The collapse of the case against Ernst & Young and a drop from 11.1 per cent to 8 per cent in Equitable's penalty transfer fees should spur policyholders to reconsider with profits, according to an IFA. Tom McPhail, head of pensions...

Winterthur cautions over property being put into Sipps.(Winterthur Life (UK) Ltd.)(Brief Article)
October 6, 2005... Top end advisers believe up to 25 per cent of their clients are likely to include residential property in a Sipp, according to new research released by Winterthur Life. The survey saw 765 of the UK's top-end advisers respond, with 85 per...

ABI hits out on reserve taxes.
October 6, 2005... THE Association of British Insurers is seeing red over government proposals which will force insurers to pay tax on their investment reserves. In draft legislation, the Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs proposed that insurers will have to...

Cool reception for downward rate move by industry giants.
October 6, 2005... A drop in life assurance rates by two insurance giants has been cautiously welcomed by IFAs. Norwich Union and Legal & General have slightly reduced their rates for term assurance. NU has amended its level term and decreasing term...

New Standard property fund may 'be too risky'.(Brief Article)
October 6, 2005... A new property fund from Standard Life may not attract investor attention, according to an investment specialist. Joanne Roberts, director of Staffordshire-based NeedanAdviser.com, said that although the Select Property fund was very...

Mortgage Times to help advisers to get paid.
October 6, 2005... The Mortgage Times group has launched an online commission system which will help IFAs get paid from providers. The online system will assist intermediaries in getting paid on completion for all lender direct cases. The group already...

Providers under attack on treatment of clients.
October 6, 2005... Protection experts have criticised providers for not treating customers fairly over the sale of insurance products. Ron Wheatcroft, technical manager for Swiss Re, said: "Is it treating customers fairly to knowingly sell a customer a...

Living the never-ending story.
October 6, 2005... The rise in oil prices has been the dominant story for investors throughout 2005. Interest rates are the only other factor that has made much of an impact on global stock markets. The fact that oil prices have dominated headlines...

IFA calls for 10-point MOT fundamentals clarification.(independent financial adviser)(Management of Technology )
October 6, 2005... A10-point MOT test for all small businesses can be successfully applied to IFAs, but according to one adviser, some of the fundamentals could be made clearer. Jason Butler, a principal for Bloomsbury Financial Planning in London, said...

ABI Quality Mark review fails to impress IFAs.
October 6, 2005... T he Association of British Insurer's new raising standards initiative must have teeth, according to an IFA. Susie Colley, principal of West Country Health Care in Torquay, said she did not hold out much hope for change, following the...

HMRC under fire from accountants over mandatory online form filling.
October 6, 2005... Small business campaigners are demanding independent monitoring of HM Revenue & Customs' online operations. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales has asked Lord Carter, who is on the government's public services...

NatWest survey reveals addictive nature of being an entrepreneur.
October 6, 2005... It seems that being an entrepreneur is a life-long addiction and the more you do, the worse it gets. A significant proportion of the UK's small businessmen and women are serial entrepreneurs who own, or have owned, more than one business....

Bankhall bades farewell to major group developer Shaun Godfrey.
October 6, 2005... IFA Shaun Godfrey, commercial director for Cheshire-based Bankhall, will leave the company in October to pursue other business interests. Peter Mann, chief executive for Bankhall said: "Mr Godfrey has played a key role in the growth and...

Use the net or lose out -- study.
October 6, 2005... MORTGAGE brokers who do not make the most of the internet are in danger of losing web-savvy clients. Research from web consultancy firm Foolproof revealed that online mortgage shoppers visit the web on at least two or three occasions...