Financial Advisor articles from September 2006

Financial Advisor archives from September 2006

Fantasy investing wins real cash.(Institute of Financial Services' School of Finance Uni Investor Challenge)(Anna-Louise Christie)(Brief article)
September 7, 2006... Anna-Louise Christie, a university student from Aberdeen, is the winner of the first IFS School of Finance Uni Investor Challenge, which gives entrants a fantasy AGBP100,000 to invest in the stock market over a three-month period. Ms Christie,...

The Pru turns against those IFAs that churn.(Prudential Corporation PLC)(independent financial advisers)
September 7, 2006... Prudential has warned sales-driven financial advisers they could face being black- listed if they continue to churn business. The leading life provider has emailed 25,000 advisers warning it intends to identify intermediaries who have a...

European Commission urged to ease cross-border mortgages.
September 7, 2006... The Treasury and the FSA has urged the European Commission to make sure member states allow mortgage lenders to write cross-border business. In a 24-page response to the European Commission's questionnaire on mortgage credit, the UK...

FSA may rip red tape from approved persons regime.
September 7, 2006... The processes for vetting approved persons are to be shaken up and could save the industry AGBP1m a year, the FSA said. In a 92-page consultation paper, the City watchdog outlines plans to merge the customer functions in the approved...

Kitemark for debt counselling.
September 7, 2006... Plans to improve standards in debt management companies, as a way of curbing the influx of new companies seeking a quick buck, have been welcomed by IFAs and the debt regulator. Duncan Philp, a senior consultant for Scotland-based Macbeth...

Schemes must work harder as complaints decrease, Pensions Ombudsman reports.
September 7, 2006... Pension complaints are down nearly a third, but schemes must work harder in explaining death benefits, according to the Pensions Ombudsman. Presenting his annual report, David Laverick said many members of pensions schemes are unaware that...

IFAs under-advising on equity release, claims Pru.
September 7, 2006... IFAs are under-advising clients on equity release products, according to a new survey by Prudential. Research from the provider found that two-thirds of advisers were currently advising less than 5 per cent of their client base on lifetime...

Cofunds club adds Midas to its market.(Midas Capital Corp.)(Brief article)
September 7, 2006... Cofunds strengthened its position as the UK's biggest fund supermarket with the news that Midas Capital Partners will be joining the platform. The inclusion of Midas will strengthen Cofunds' position as market leader, with the fund...

Isa investment purchases rising, AITC figures show.
September 7, 2006... Investors in investment trusts have ridden market turbulence by increasing their annual allocation in company Isas and saving schemes, according to the Association of Investment Trust Companies. Figures released by the AITC show that...

Ahipp first out of the blocks with voluntary bid to regulate Hips.
September 7, 2006... The Association of Home Information Packs has announced it is to introduce a code of practice for its providers. The voluntary code of practice, which providers with Ahipp will be able to sign up to later this month, will be modelled on the...

Nationwide sees a rise in house price inflation.
September 7, 2006... Annual house price inflation hit 6.6 per cent in August, the highest since April 1995, according to Nationwide. House prices increased by 0.8 per cent in August month-on-month, to put the average house price at AGBP167,721, AGBP10,412...

Act on IHT loop, Threesixty urges.
September 7, 2006... IFAs need to react fast to an important clause in the Finance Act that impacts on a number of top-end inheritance tax clients, warns Threesixty. The IFA support services provider claimed the Finance Act, published in July, allows...

New Star exit prompts top level revamp.
September 7, 2006... Alan Miller's high-profile departure from New Star has triggered senior level changes in the company, which has AGBP18bn in assets under management. New Star has already filled Mr Miller's two positions within the company. Gregor Logan has...

Zurich is hitting the road to show way to curb tax costs.
September 7, 2006... Zurich is to host a series of roadshows that will show IFAs how to pass on the benefits of inheritance tax planning to their clients. The roadshows will focus on current rules and regulations and provide advice on areas such as how to place...

InterBay hits the road to tempt IFAs into the commercial waters.
September 7, 2006... IFAs should look towards the commercial mortgage market, according to InterBay. The fledgling UK lender said that at a time when brokers are feeling the pinch, commercial lending could provide an important revenue stream but that IFAs are...

Skandia poll finds IFAs keen to emphasise quality over quantity.
September 7, 2006... Three-quarters of advisers recommend clients reduce the sum assured rather than buy a cheaper critical illness policy, a Skandia survey showed. Skandia polled nearly 500 advisers, and found that -" in situations where price is a barrier to...

Beacon signs up to Trigold module.
September 7, 2006... Beacon Homeloans has become the latest lender to sign up to Trigold's Enhanced Non Conforming sourcing module. As a result of the deal, the lender -" which distributes exclusively through members of the Regulatory Alliance of Mortgage...

Exchange ramps up Officeweb to include tracking and e-valuations.
September 7, 2006... The Exchange has launched version 3.0 of Officeweb, its back-office solution for larger adviser groups. Within the upgraded product, advisers will gain access to a range of new e-commerce services including application tracking,...

Men must bring home the bacon to 'the tune of 50K'.(National Savings & Investment survey)
September 7, 2006... British men must earn AGBP50,000 a year to be considered successful and wealthy by the fairer sex, a National Savings & Investment survey has shown. However, men have lower expectations and women only need to earn AGBP42,147 to be...

Finance of long-term care 'crisis in making'.
September 7, 2006... The vast majority of pensioners are not planning for long-term care, a GE Life report has found. The survey found that 80 per cent of pensioners have yet to work out how they will meet the cost of care if they become too ill to look after...

In need of a mental workout...
September 7, 2006... FTAdviser.com this week launched its new online IFA training tool -" the FTAdviser Gym. The online Gym features workouts covering a variety of subjects from the personal finance arena. Each one consists of 15 questions, offering...

Green investors double this year.
September 7, 2006... Demand for advice on ethical investments has more than doubled in the past year, new figures reveal. Figures released by IFA Promotion show 1933 people have searched their website for an IFA specialising in ethical investments in the past...

Sparshott takes a spot as partner on the Deloitte UK insurance team.
September 7, 2006... Insurance Deloitte has appointed Ian Sparshott as a new partner on its UK insurance team. Mr Sparshott has more than 12 years' experience in advising insurers on corporate finance deals. He specialises in general insurance, working with...

SLA takes two for senior positions.
September 7, 2006... Standard Life Assurance has appointed Evelyn Bourke chief financial officer and John Gill as managing director of its customer service division. Ms Bourke will have the responsibility for Standard Life's UK life and pensions business. Mr...

Fos overturns time-bar rule.
September 7, 2006... The Financial Ombudsman Service has overturned an endowment time bar imposed on a physically disabled couple in what campaigners say is an "unprecedented" move. The u-turn follows threats of a legal challenge from a coalition of endowment...

ABI urges end of age-linked regulation.
September 7, 2006... The insurance industry has called for an end to the FSA's age-related sales rules on protection. In its response to the FSA's proposals for amending its rules on protection, the Association of British Insurers described the 70-year age cap...

GMAC's online offers beat Edeus to launch.
September 7, 2006... GMAC-RFC has launched what it claims is the first point of sale offer in the UK using an automated valuation model. GMAC's system was launched simultaneously to the broker and packager market, ahead of online lender Edeus' launch on 14...

We are on the verge -" it is almost as if you can smell the market uprising.
September 7, 2006... Financial Adviser: Wraps are trendy and everyone is talking about them but do most IFAs really understand them. David Ferguson: There has been a conflict about the kinds of models discussed by the different providers and quite frankly there...

It is a tale of two advice industries.(Fidelity International Ltd. and Arjent)(Editorial)
September 7, 2006... Put four people in a room and ask them for their opinion on key personal finance issues of the moment and you will get four different views. "Yes, the government should make saving into a pension compulsory'. Or: "No, you can't force...

End to unfair charges.
September 7, 2006... PROHIBITIVELY high exit charges by many leading mortgage lenders are acting as a brake on the thriving remortgage market. In fact, such high charges -" one lender reputedly charges nearly AGBP300 for the so-called administration involved -" act...

FSA rules are crippling networks, says Batten.
September 7, 2006... Controls placed on networks by the FSA have made it almost impossible to meet capital adequacy requirements, according to the former head of Network 300. Chris Batten, founder of now defunct Network 300, said part of the problem that led...

Quickest on the draw.(Kensington Mortgage Co. and Edeus)(use of technology in the financial services)
September 7, 2006... IT is pistols at dawn for two of the leading sharpshooters in the battle to be king of the sub-prime turf. Like all the best gun fights, one is the old hand who has out-drawn allcomers, the other is the new kid on the block -" untested but...

One man's fair is another man's claim.
September 7, 2006... Not that I spend hours each day poring over the FSA's website studying the latest information and press releases, but one has recently caught my eye. A stockbroking firm was fined for unacceptable sales practices and for failing to treat...

Gov't comes under fire from TUC over year wait to start job pension.
September 7, 2006... Some employers are lobbying the government to introduce a waiting period of a year before an employee starts to gain from compulsory employer pension contributions, the TUC has learnt. The Trades Union Congress suggested that one in six...

Agony and irony for Fos.
September 7, 2006... On a lighter note, it is interesting to see the reaction of the Ombudsman to its dealings with mortgage brokers, the used car dealers of the financial world. Try reading between the lines of this paragraph from Ombudsman News: "From our...

Incentives anger Scots.
September 7, 2006... A North-South divide has opened up in the world of pensions, with Scotland's life offices widely criticising the commissions paid by their southern-based rivals. The practice of offering generous commissions -" sometimes as high as 30 per...

Learning lessons of good advice.
September 7, 2006... The latest edition of Ombudsman News, published by the Financial Ombudsman Service, details how one woman was advised to borrow AGBP100,000 to add her own AGBP50,000 and then invest this in an offshore bond. It probably will not surprise you...

Pensions over Isas not so basic.
September 7, 2006... My attention was caught by a letter last week from Julian Stevens of WDS IFAs in Bristol, which sets out the case for personal pensions over Isas for basic-rate taxpayers. He suggested that AGBP300 a month saved for a number of years would...

Kent Reliance will become web-only.
September 7, 2006... Kent Reliance will become the first internet-only building society within two years, the society's chief executive has predicted. As more business is conducted online Mike Lazenby also suggested that other high street lenders would have to...

On the trail of the perfect deal.
September 7, 2006... At last, the will-rates-go-up-or-won't-they saga that has been rumbling on for many months ended with a quarter point rise. A betting man may get reasonable odds on a similar rise some time between now and Christmas. After remaining at 4.5...

Taking action.
September 7, 2006... The FSA has taken enforcement action against a stockbroker for using unacceptable sales practices and failing to treat its customers fairly. On 17 August, the FSA published details of the enforcement action taken against Hoodless Brennan...

Riding roughshod will raise hackles.
September 7, 2006... With all the changes being introduced from 6 April, attention in the early months of this year was understandably focused on pensions simplification. Before 6 April, there was no general legal obligation on employers to consult members...

Tapping lost troves.(Commission on Unclaimed Assets planning to open financial institution)
September 7, 2006... How to use money that is lying forgotten in building society and bank accounts is in the headlines again. The Commission on Unclaimed Assets has joined the debate with the publication of a consultation paper proposing the establishment of a...

Hiding your head is not an option.(payment protection insurance)
September 7, 2006... Perhaps all the criticism and complaint that has been directed at the payment protection insurance market this year has been misguided? Perhaps there are bound to be one or two issues in a market that generates an annual premium income of...

Mortgages.(Product/service evaluation)
September 7, 2006... Mortgages Fixed rate Britannia Type: Fixed-rate mortgages. Details: Britannia has changed the rates on its range of fixed rate mortgages. Two, three, five and 10-year fixed rate mortgages are available at rates of 5.04 per...

Investments.(Product/service evaluation)
September 7, 2006... Investment Trust Rensburg Sheppards Type: Investment trust Details: The fund will be run by a number of managers. Stuart Sharp, the UK small companies' manager, will invest in up to a maximum of 20 stocks in his small-cap...

Protection.(Canada Life, an online quotation service)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
September 7, 2006... Quotation service Canada Life Type: Online quotation service. Details: This is an internet-based eBusiness portal called Canada Life Automated Self Service (Class). It is being launched with eQuotes, an online quotation service,...

Case of what happens next?
September 7, 2006... Since 12 May, financial markets have been extremely volatile. The markets have exhibited many mood swings, sometimes within the same trading day. The key concern for markets is the future path of US inflation. At Fathom we use a...

Amber scores an online hit.
September 7, 2006... n Amber Homeloans has reported a high level of broker satisfaction with its online decision in principle. The new service was launched in June this year and aims to provides a Yes/No decision within minutes, or a decision based upon...

NU goes for discount cover.
September 7, 2006... n Norwich Union has launched an internet only car insurance product. Simple Cover is designed to offer a no-frills solution to the motorist, providing fully comprehensive motor insurance, a claims team available around the clock, a protected no...

Advisers slammed in Which? study.
September 7, 2006... Financial advisers are continuing to fail customers, according to the results of an investigation by Which?. The consumer watchdog found that less than a third of independent and tied advisers passed a series of benchmarks for good...

Equity release rates now below mainstream rivals.
September 7, 2006... Equity release rates have dropped below mainstream rates for the first time, research has revealed. The average equity release rates are now lower than the average standard variable rates for mainstream mortgage offerings. The sector's...

Sainsbury's offers life plan.
September 7, 2006... n Sainsbury's Bank has announced it is offering a 5 percentage point discount on life insurance premiums for the life of the policy. Provided it is purchased before 11 September, the offer is available to those purchasing online or by phone....

Abbey targets first-timers.
September 7, 2006... n Abbey has re-launched its range of mortgages for first-time buyers. The revamped range will include a number of new products and reduced rates on some existing products. Features of the first-time buyer mortgages include free...

Sales-driven IFAs to die out, claims Clerical.(independent financial advisers)(Clerical Medical)(Brief article)
September 7, 2006... The death of sales-driven IFA businesses will accelerate towards the end of this decade, according to Clerical Medical. David Shelton, head of intermediary strategic planning for Clerical Medical, said in the past six years there has been a...

'Unclaimed' bond winnings.
September 7, 2006... n A significant nationwide search has been launched by National Savings & Investments to track down the winners of 514,000 unclaimed Premium Bond prizes worth a total of AGBP30m. This is the largest amount ever left unclaimed and includes...

Paper storage costs businesses AGBP200bn.
September 7, 2006... Firms in the UK could save up to AGBP200bn each year on their paperwork by investing in electronic forms of data storage and retrieval. According to research by the International Data Corporation, firms are also spending AGBP70bn annually...

Follow HR procedures or risk litigation, Peninsula warns.
September 7, 2006... Smaller financial services firms need to work on their human resources procedures or else face an increase in employment litigation claims, according to Peninsula. Of the 788 financial adviser businesses the firm surveyed, two-thirds...

Premier is still on the up.(Premier Mortgage Service)(Brief article)
September 7, 2006... n Premier Mortgage Service has replicated the business volumes in its second quarter of 2006. The leading mortgage club saw AGBP22.8bn worth of applications and AGBP16.7bn worth of completions. PMS said there were concerns to the continuing...

Time saved by all this technology is needed to keep up.(financial advisers)
September 7, 2006... Monday After leaving the house about 7.15am, my brief drive to the office usually puts me at my desk by 7.30am, consuming a bowl of cereal while filtering the week-end's emails and planning my day. I have not yet fully embraced technology...

Our neighbours down under are leading the way.(financial advisers)
September 7, 2006... The UK financial planning market is evolving. Experiences from the Australian market, having endured similar changes, can offer valuable insight to UK advisers. Australian advisers have been through depolarisation, the platform market is...

Helping to save time and money.
September 7, 2006... As a busy adviser firm, it is very important to be able to assess which areas of our business we should concentrate on to help increase our revenue. Can using technology really help to generate income as well as measure client profitability?...

Pink to extend online reach.
September 7, 2006... An online decision in principle for directly authorised advisers has been launched by Pink Home Loans. Although it has been available to appointed representatives since April, it will be the first time it is available through Pink's...

English Mutual ensures cash rolls in.(to finance for St Richard's Hospice )(Brief article)
September 7, 2006... There may not have been tantrums, but a tiara was up for grabs when English Mutual staff saw Elton John perform. The 80 members of the mutual society's staff who attended the concert at Worcestershire County cricket ground helped to raise...

Rightmove confident of grabbing buy-to-let market with value model.(Brief article)
September 7, 2006... Ten major lenders are testing an automated valuation model for rental value, according to Rightmove. The service could bring cost savings for lenders offering buy-to-let products. The company also claimed that other model providers would...

Brokers get a boost from paaleads.com.
September 7, 2006... A new telephone service for qualified mortgage leads has been set up by paaleads.com. The exclusive lead retailer of moneysupermarket.com claimed that the new scheme would give brokers better access to leads and boost business...

Assetz targets developers gain without pain.
September 7, 2006... A property development fund has been launched by Assetz offering investors exposure to the profit potential of being a developer and taking profits from the sale of a development. Nick Booker, a spokesman for Assetz Fund Management, said...

Mortgage Brain to allow clients to keep an eye on their credit ratings.
September 7, 2006... Client credit scoring from Experian will be provided for free to Mortgage Brain users -" without leaving a footprint on their file. Mark Lofthouse, chief executive officer of Mortgage Brain, said: "It is a totally automated process....

Capcon's crisis management plan to help SMEs keep calm.
September 7, 2006... A list of steps to take for crisis management has been published by Capcon, the risk management business, to helps small businesses in the events of IT failure, fire, employee litigation, theft, or anything else that involves risks in the...

Family ties prove key to getting on first rung of ladder, Abbey claims.
September 7, 2006... First-time buyers expect parental assistance to get on the property ladder, according to research from Abbey. But while most first-time buyers take this help for granted, Abbey claims that lenders can do more to ease parents' burden. ...

Lime deal to take strain out of commercial lending.
September 7, 2006... A new commercial lending proposition has been launched by the Lime network. It includes two routes -" direct to lender and through an introducer facility. For the direct route, Lime has teamed up with four key lenders, Abbey, Bank of...

Testing data will reveal true value.(financial services valuation techniques)
September 7, 2006... Product comparison used to be quite simple. All lenders had one range of products which had fees which tended to be the same as other lenders so it was quite easy to see which products were the best value for a borrower. Now each lender...

Striking the balance.
September 7, 2006... The latest house price figures from the Nationwide should provide comforting news to mortgage brokers. House prices rose sharply last month, indicating that the rate rise at the start of the month has had little impact on the housing market as...

Innovation should be to the benefit of all.(valuation techniques by financial services)
September 7, 2006... Much is being made of the automated valuation models that some lenders are starting to bring out. Certainly they are still in their infancy, but if they work and become established they could drastically alter the way that people get their...

Sesame backs down from court clash over liability confrontation.
September 7, 2006... Sesame has backed down in its fight with a former network member who threatened to challenge the distributor in court over who is liable for past advice. Just before Richard Stock, a former member of DBS and a past director of...

Old issue will not be forgot for some time.
September 7, 2006... When this year is through and we look back at what has occurred, there will be a number of key issues that define it. While it may be early to be linking arms, singing Auld Lang Syne and reviewing the year, I guarantee that payment protection...

Can you all hear me at the back?
September 7, 2006... Long before the endowment mortgage became the pariah that it has retrospectively become and the drift towards repayment mortgages accelerated to the tidal wave of today, the concept of just repaying interest and ignoring capital reduction had...

Not all in the garden is rosy.
September 7, 2006... The buy-to-let sector has created rich pickings for financial advisers since it was introduced into the UK market 10 years ago. However, there are still risks involved, especially given rises in rental cover and encroaching legislation. ...

Move with the tides.
September 7, 2006... General insurance products have been available online for many years. Initially, brands added online distribution mechanisms to their telephone proposition -" making it easier and more convenient for customers to apply for products. ...

United through our differences.
September 7, 2006... European mortgage markets are experiencing a period of strong innovation. In the past few years, mortgage products have seen increasingly new ways in which interest rates can vary as well as the introduction of new product features which allow...

Insight set to target Aim for cash injection.
September 7, 2006... Insight Investment Management Limited, the asset management business of Halifax Bank of Scotland, has announced its decision to float on the Alternative Investment Market. The initial proposition offering will be completed by the end of...

Edeus aims to secure business in all areas.
September 7, 2006... New lender Edeus has revealed it will offer a whole of market suite of mortgage products for advisers -" including a prime range. Alan Cleary, managing director of Edeus, said: "There are currently no lenders out there offering a whole of...

Post Office uncovers protection gap.
September 7, 2006... Nearly half -" 48 per cent -" of first-time buyers would only be able to meet their mortgage repayments for six months if they lost their regular income tomorrow, research by the Post Office has revealed. Claire Oldstein, head of marketing...

Skipton on warpath over "free" legal help.(Skipton Building Society)(mortgage services)
September 7, 2006... Some of the UK's biggest lenders are misleading customers when they offer free legal services with remortgages, according to the Skipton Building Society and the Society of Licensed Conveyancers. John Goodfellow, chief executive of Skipton...