Money Management articles from February 2006

Money Management archives from February 2006

CBE for Edmans.
February 1, 2006... Laurie Edmans, Aegon's UK director of corporate development, received a CBE for services to pensions reform in the New Year's Honours list. Edmans is a well known figure in the personal finance field, having previously worked with...

Ocean's treasure chest.
February 1, 2006... Exclusive The first residential mortgage-backed securities fund is expected to hit the UK in April this year. Ocean Capital, an FSA registered company founded in 2002, will offer the product with a yield of 10% to 15% pa. UK...

PPI PPPredicament.
February 1, 2006... Barclay's has denied that its decision to refund holders of payment protection insurance is connected to an investigation into sales of the product. The bank has made refunds to "a small number of people" after a review of its PPI book...

Portal purchase.
February 1, 2006... Portal provider Webline has been bought by London-based support services company Capita. Capita declined to disclose the purchase price, but confirmed that all Webline's staff and directors would remain in the group's current Fareham-based...

The REIT stuff.
February 1, 2006... A host of technical problems have already been found with the Treasury's REITs proposals, just weeks after the plans were outlined. Industry bodies such as the British Property Federation (BPF) and the Association of Investment Trust Companies...

Expo excitement.
February 1, 2006... The 2006 Financial Adviser Expo is coming early and an extra location has been added. This year, Expo will take place in May instead of October, kicking off on 25 May at the Harrogate International Centre in Harrogate. The conference will...

IFAs sign up for new title.
February 1, 2006... Hundreds of IFAs have applied to become chartered financial planners since the title was launched last November. More than 530 members of the Chartered Insurance Institute who already held the relevant qualifications have gained the award...

Blast from the past.
February 1, 2006... In January 1981, Money Management published a table comparing the projected annual outlay between a capital repayment mortgage and an endowment mortgage, following a reduction in mortgage lending rates from 15% to 14%. The figures showed that...

Moving to a new model.
February 1, 2006... Prudential has launched a consultancy arm to help IFAs make the switch to the 'new model' of fee-based advice. PruConsulting is offering free 12-week business reviews to ensure that the transition does not lead to a sharp drop in turnover and...

Phoenix firms' wings clipped.
February 1, 2006... Members of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) and Personal Finance Society (PFS) could be ousted if found to be deliberately avoiding their business liabilities and passing them on to the compensation scheme. The bodies have taken a...

Money Management goes to school.
February 1, 2006... Its official -- Money Management is a recognised part of a financial education (in name, at least). From this September, schools will be able to offer two new personal finance qualifications to students aged 14 to 16 -- with modules aptly...

Next month.
February 1, 2006... n Our main survey will be on ISA results, showing results for all investment sectors. n Our second survey will be on distribution bonds and other alternatives to with profits plans. Also: n Supermarket sweep -- a look at the role...

Yearning for yield.
February 1, 2006... Britannic Asset Management and F&C have launched two new funds aimed squarely at finding yield in what is forecast to be a slowing UK equity market. The Britannic Cartesian UK Opportunities fund -- a joint venture between Cartesian and...

The story of O.
February 1, 2006... Last April, I thought I had heard everything about false endowment misselling claims when I wrote in this leader column of a married couple with two Canada Life with profits endowment policies which had matured and paid off their mortgage and...

Over 55s medical plan.
February 1, 2006... Standard Life Healthcare is the latest insurer to enter the over 55s private medical insurance (PMI) market with an affordable, scaled down proposition. Due to the insurer's switching policy, policyholders can benefit from up to 65% no...

High alpha alternatives.
February 1, 2006... Fidelity International has added to its multi-manager range with two new funds, the Special Situations portfolio and the Equity Income portfolio. These funds of funds (FoFs) aim to be aggressive, high alpha funds to complement Fidelity's...

Branson's 'Big V'.
February 1, 2006... Virgin Money has launched an insurance product that it is marketing as the most affordable cover for cancer. It claims that the 'Big V' Virgin Money Cancer Cover -- being sold direct over the phone or internet -- will allow people to...

Secure with a small 's'?
February 1, 2006... Keydata's Secure INCOME Bond offers a guaranteed rate of 7.5% fixed income pa -- or alternatively, 43.5% compound growth -- over five years. The product invests in cash and a portfolio of secondhand US and Canadian corporate protection...

A home for your cash.
February 1, 2006... The trend to release equity from property has been growing at a phenomenal rate in the UK over the past decade. In fact the equity release boom has, if anything, been held back from reaching its true potential by a hitherto lack of statutory...

Investing in the basics.
February 1, 2006... Marlborough Fund Managers has hopped on the ethical investing bandwagon. The newly launched Marlborough Ethical fund aims to provide long-term capital growth by investing in UK companies that meet its ethical criteria. Management has been...

Joseph and his amazing technicolour nightmare.
February 1, 2006... Exclusive Embattled IFA John Joseph has ended his bitter dispute with the FOS, paying AGBP1,200 compensation in an endowment misselling case in order to save his business from closure. Joseph's much-publicised clash with the Financial...

Asset allocation models.
February 1, 2006... Good asset allocation decisions are much more important to long term returns than market timing or choice of funds or fund managers. Sophisticated models should provide better allocations than seat of the pants choices. Stochastic modelling,...

Starting over.
February 1, 2006... The practice whereby the controllers of a company which is doing badly (let us call it Bad Co) set up a new company and transfers Bad Co's assets for less than full value to the new company (Clean Co), and then continue trading, is commonly...

Taking stock.
February 1, 2006... Stock markets have recovered well since their low point of 2003. Now, with most investment banks predicting end 2006 targets of well over 6000, it is as though the bubble had never been pricked. But although markets' may have recovered, very...

Hidden values.
February 1, 2006... The decision by The Mortgage Works (TMW) to pull out of buy-to-let (BTL) new build does not appear to have begun any great trends among lenders. So far, no one else has followed suit, although Capital Home Loans says that it has tightened up...

Really interesting.
February 1, 2006... The UK will shortly introduce a tax-efficient property investment vehicle, similar to those popular in many others countries, including America, Australia and France. Real estate investment trusts (REITs) will operate as stock exchange quoted...

Is there money in morals?
February 1, 2006... Socially responsible investing (SRI) has come a long way since 1984 when Friends Provident launched the first ethical fund in the UK. The Stewardship fund, now managed by F&C, was known as the Brazil fund because it was thought you had to be...

Flaws and fundamentals.
February 1, 2006... Annuities providers could be forgiven a degree of confusion, such has been the rush of developments in recent months. The main focus remains A-Day and the associated implications for annuities, but the studious combination of Lord Turner and...

Equally cursed and blessed.
February 1, 2006... As the industry struggles to cope with the impending impact of A-Day, it is easy to lose focus on the needs of individuals. One thing for certain is that these needs will not change after the introduction of the new pensions regime. For...

Annuities: the form guide.
February 1, 2006... Broadly speaking, there are two main forms of annuities: compulsory purchase annuities (CPA) and purchased life annuities (PLA). The distinctions lie in the tax treatment of each, and in the fact that CPAs are purchased with the proceeds of...

Weighing up the alternative.
February 1, 2006... One of the most popular changes unveiled in the pensions simplification regulations relates to the removal of the requirement to purchase an annuity by age 75. Regardless of the arguments in favour of annuitisation at older ages, the...

The rate's progress.
February 1, 2006... With A-Day presenting new retirement income options and offering fresh excuses to defer buying an annuity, would-be annuitants face a dilemma. This is because annuity rates are on a long term downward curve, and waiting for improvements seems...

Walking the talk.
February 1, 2006... The wrap market did little in 2005 to answer questions surrounding the development of the concept in the UK. Although 2006 began with the launch of the long awaited Standard Life wrap proposition, there remain concerns over the extent to which...

Turning spare bedrooms into pensions.
February 1, 2006... In his two reports, Lord Turner has done a 'Grand Old Duke of York' on what housing might contribute towards solving the UK pension crisis, concluding that "housing wealth-has major implications for pension design". But, apart from suggesting...

When is a wrap, a wrap?
February 1, 2006... T he latest financial titan to launch a wrap proposition is Standard Life. Its new wrap claims to include all of the investment services, bar annuities, that an intermediary should expect from a wrap platform. If the product proves to be more...

Platforms and pensions A-Day.
February 1, 2006... Pensions simplification was supposed to herald a new dawn for wraps, which promised to be the best way to exploit increasing investment flexibility post A-Day. With the pre-Budget speech U-turn on the inclusion of residential property, the...

Wrapping up the new model.
February 1, 2006... The role of the financial adviser is changing and potentially cutting out or relegating the product provider. The 'new model' advisers focus more on wealth management through building long term relationships with fewer but more profitable...

Grandfathering concerns.
February 1, 2006... Advisers are opting not to take qualifications to advise on lifetime mortgages under a controversial FSA 'grandfathering' arrangement, despite repeated industry calls for all equity release advisers to sit the new exams. The FSA rules do...

CAB courts Cowdery.
February 1, 2006... Exclusive The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) is in talks to form a partnership with Clive Cowdery's not-for-profit Resolution Foundation in an effort to secure funding for the extension of its free generic financial advice scheme. The...

Virgin on the controversial.
February 1, 2006... Concerns have been raised regarding a new cancer insurance product that will be sold direct to consumers. 'The Big V', developed with Scottish Widows, features specific medical definitions and staged payouts. As a result, many believe that...

Wraps gain weight in 2005.
February 1, 2006... Exclusive Funds under management in UK wrap platforms flourished during 2005 with an average growth of 40% across five key providers in the eight months to December. Exclusive Money Management data reveals that wrap providers...

HMRC goes offshore fishing.
February 1, 2006... HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has won a key battle in its war on offshore accounts after a ruling allowed it to obtain new information from banks. The ruling came in a special commissioners' tax tribunal against an unnamed financial...

IHT -- a complete exemption.
February 1, 2006... With an ever increasing number of 'ordinary' as opposed to rich people being caught in the inheritance tax (IHT) trap, any instances where IHT can be completely avoided is welcome. The complete exemption referred to in the heading is the...

NU cuts MVRs.
February 1, 2006... Norwich Union has reduced its average market value reduction (MVR) on unitised with profits policies. The provider has cut its annual rate by between two and 11 percentage points, depending on the year that the policy was purchased. Meanwhile,...

Reports wrong on protected rights.
February 1, 2006... The industry is making a plea for clarification on the Government's plans for contracted out protected rights and self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs). A Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) consultation response made just before...

Fair play platforms.
February 1, 2006... There was outrage at the recent discovery that firms of solicitors had charged fees to redundant miners in Nottingham when the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) had already paid them. The DTI had made it clear that no further fee should be...