Money Management articles from June 2006

Money Management archives from June 2006

Wrap up regulation.
June 1, 2006... Advisers are being warned that if they use just one SIPP wrap provider, they cannot classify themselves as whole of market when SIPPs come under statutory regulation next year. Regulation details have yet to be finalised, but the precedent...

Alliance trusts merge.
June 1, 2006... The Alliance Trust and The Second Alliance Trust are to merge, creating the largest generalist investment trust in the UK with assets of around AGBP2.8bn. The newly merged trust will be called Alliance Trust Plc and trading will start on 21...

Well, fantasy that.
June 1, 2006... Wayne Rooney might not be involved in this summer's World Cup, but you still can be, thanks to our fantasy football competition, which will run in line with the big event in Germany. Just visit www.fandcfantasy football.com to register,...

Hundreds of A-Day forms rejected.
June 1, 2006... HM Revenue & Customs is blaming investors for acting "too soon" in seeking enhanced protection for their pension funds after hundreds of applications were rejected. HMRC has hit back at claims that the fund protection form shambles, which...

IFAs move into wraps.
June 1, 2006... Helm Godfrey Partners has confirmed that it is part of a group of IFA firms planning to set up a wrap offering independent of product providers. Managing director Bruce Wilson says that he is hopeful that it will come to market this year. He...

Money Management wins again.
June 1, 2006... Money Management added two more awards to its crowded trophy shelf following the fourth annual Headline Money Awards. The magazine scooped the team of the year (trade media) award and MM pensions columnist, John Chapman won pensions writer of...

News alerts from FT Adviser.
June 1, 2006... FTAdviser.com, the web address for Money Management and sister titles Investment Adviser and Financial Adviser, has unveiled Desktop Adviser, an instant news alert service to download to your PC. The programme is free and takes less than a...

Blast from the past.
June 1, 2006... Investors in gold have had much to smile about recently, with prices soaring to record levels. Back in June 1981, the precious metal was experiencing a more volatile price performance, as Money Management reported. An absence of any sales...

Don't miss out on the 'Oscars'.
June 1, 2006... Advisers have until 12 July to submit their entries to this year's Money Management Financial Planner Awards. The gala awards dinner, where winners will receive their awards, will be held on the evening of 12 October 2006 at the Dorchester...

EL offloads pensions.
June 1, 2006... Equitable Life has offloaded AGBP4.6bn in pensions contracts to Canada Life to reduce risk and improve its strength. The transfer of 130,000 non-profit pension annuities -" policies that provide a guaranteed level pension income for life -"...

Higher rates for impaired lives.
June 1, 2006... Partnership Home Loans claims to have launched the first fully medically underwritten impaired life equity release plan. The home reversion product offers competitive rates for those clients with medical conditions, such as diabetes or cancer,...

Low cost and easy access.
June 1, 2006... Aberdeen Asset Managers has unveiled an ISA and share plan investment trust (IT) index tracker that offers low cost access to UK and US equity markets. The plan -" part of the Edinburgh-branded IT tracker range -" features a portfolio...

Another hat in the ring.
June 1, 2006... Scottish Provident joins the ranks of providers to launch a pension term assurance (PTA) product. Joint cover is not available, but two single PTA policies may be placed under one central plan. The life insurance comes with terminal...

Simply SIPPable.
June 1, 2006... National Savings and Investments (NS&I) and Bank of Ireland have both launched guaranteed equity bonds (GEBs), taking advantage of the new post- A-Day SIPP investment regime. Both GEBs can be invested in via self-invested personal pensions...

IFAs search far and wide.
June 1, 2006... Financial services research company Defaqto has launched a real-time IFA search engine. Aequos Engage is an online system that can source 5,300 products from over 400 providers in 69 product sectors. The system also provides performance...

A new fund for a new dawn.
June 1, 2006... After countless false dawns over the past 15 years, the Japanese economy appears finally to be growing and as a result new Japan investment funds have begun to hit UK retail market shelves. Investec Asset Management is the latest asset...

Weapons and dice, and all things vice.
June 1, 2006... Green is the new black. Gordon Brown and David Cameron are tussling over who has the 'greenest' policies, multi-national companies liberally splash about words like 'corporate social responsibility' and, to date, UK investors have ploughed...

Red letter days.
June 1, 2006... Mentioning endowment mortgages is like uttering a swear word in some circles, such is the reputation now of these once popular home loan repayment vehicles. The stock market slump of 2000 to 2003 saw the performance of many low cost with...

Free at last?
June 1, 2006... Walter Merricks, the chief Financial Ombudsman, has told Money Management that there is no reason why the FOS should not come under the jurisdiction of the Freedom of Information Act. In an exclusive interview with MM, Merricks said,...

MM meets Merricks.
June 1, 2006... In April 2006 Money Management was invited to the offices of FOS for an interview with Walter Merricks following publication of the article 'Fossy logic' in the May issue of the magazine, by IFA Alan Lakey. Merricks felt that the article was...

Prospering property.
June 1, 2006... A burgeoning global real estate investment trust (REIT) market has set the scene for the launch of Henderson Global Investors' latest global property equities fund. Henderson Global Properties Companies is a Guernsey domiciled, closed-end...

Keeping it in the family.
June 1, 2006... It was uncertain how many providers would launch family pension products after Chancellor Gordon Brown's announcement in the Budget that these plans would still attract a tax charge when passing pension assets from generation to generation. ...

Is this the end of offshore investing?
June 1, 2006... The glamorous image of offshore investments out of sight of the taxman suffered a serious blow recently. In May this year, Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) won a ruling that will open up the tax affairs of thousands of offshore account...

Hedge clippings.
June 1, 2006... Hedge funds are unregulated investments largely reserved for the rich and the financially sophisticated, and are increasingly dominating world markets. They are supposed to make money for investors whether the markets are rising or falling and...

A fair process for TCF.
June 1, 2006... At a conference towards the end of last year, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) made it clear that the Treating Customers Fairly Initiative (TCF) must be seen as relevant to all financial services organisations regardless of size. Yet...

Taking stock.
June 1, 2006... Humans require both certainty and simplicity, and those needs have produced much wonderful philosophy, as well as a vast array of religious beliefs. But this variety only shows that there are no simple answers to life's complexity. From...

Regulating the landlords.
June 1, 2006... Landlords have until 6 July 2006 to comply with the new legislation on houses of multiple occupation (HMOs). First, they need to check whether their property fits the Government's definition of an HMO. Not surprisingly, the definition is long...

Post M-Day blues.
June 1, 2006... Over a year has passed since M-Day, the day that mortgage sales came under FSA regulation, and some of the gloomy predictions of lenders and intermediaries may have partly come true. A survey conducted at the beginning of the year by the...

Preparation H.
June 1, 2006... Complaints from IFAs about the injustice of paying a AGBP360 case fee to the FOS, even when a case goes against the complainant, have finally fallen on fertile ground. 70% of FOS's funding is raised through the case fee system, with the...

Discretionary trust and IHT.
June 1, 2006... Discretionary trusts have formed the foundation of inheritance tax (IHT) planning for many years. However, their use has tended to be restricted to larger cases or to 'nil rate band trusts' established under the will on death. For smaller...

Benefits of technology.
June 1, 2006... There has been some debate as to whether mortgage regulation has increased mortgage advisers' workload, but there is little doubt that the advent of electronic applications has helped to speed up the process, counteracting any regulatory...

Closing time.
June 1, 2006... The fate of thousands of with profits policies is up in the air as Standard Life plans to close its AGBP31bn fund and closed life fund consolidator Resolution holds talks to buy Abbey National's fund. In preparation for its flotation in...

Finding the answer.
June 1, 2006... Although the introduction of mortgage regulation was not exactly welcomed with open arms, regulation has been a catalyst for the rapid development of technology for the mortgage industry. While other financial services industries, such as life...

Bidding for business.
June 1, 2006... After years of using eBay, the concept of an online auction is now second nature to most people. But whereas eBay allows people to both sell unwanted items and buy new treasures, on mortgagebundles.com, the consumer is the subject of the...

A waste of billions.
June 1, 2006... Did you know that more than 50% of the AGBP19bn annual tax relief probably goes to 2.5m higher rate taxpayers? Already enjoying comfortable lifestyles, do such high earners need perhaps AGBP10bn each year from the Exchequer to help them built...

Commercial property court case fears.
June 1, 2006... Commercial property investors and pension funds have been put on alert as a landmark court case threatens to wipe off billions of pounds from the value of property across the country. A dozen landlords are taking electrical retailer...

Revenue lands offshore catch.
June 1, 2006... HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has taken a huge step forward in its war on tax evasion after winning greater access to details of offshore Barclay's Bank accounts. HMRC's success in securing what it described as a "landmark decision" from the...

SRI sucks in cash.
June 1, 2006... Investors are piling money into ethical funds despite the recent performance of so-called 'sin investments'. During the first quarter of 2006, ethical funds under management increased by 11% on the previous quarter reaching AGBP4.4bn, an...

Funding the FOS.
June 1, 2006... IFAs are being given the chance to have their say on how the FOS compulsory jurisdiction should be funded, following the release of the FOS Compulsory jurisdiction: funding review discussion paper. Ten funding options are up for...

Pick your price.
June 1, 2006... Fund managers will have more flexibility to adopt single or dual pricing of units in authorised collective investment schemes under new FSA proposals. The move by the FSA shelves original plans to introduce single pricing for all...

Into the divide.
June 1, 2006... The FSA's grip on the mortgage industry has tightened considerably since regulatory demands on the market came into effect in November 2004. Industry complexities have increased in recent years, with Home Information Packs (HIPs), Treating...

To tech or not to tech?
June 1, 2006... Technology is essential to financial services -" like it or not and many of do not. Many 'old style' advisers, having traded for countless years, find it difficult to make the quantum jumps required such as creating and regularly updating a...

Regulation nears.
June 1, 2006... The FSA has outlined its plans for the regulation of home reversions, which will bring all equity release products into the regulatory fold. Details of the planned regulation of both home reversions and sale and lease arrangement Islamic...