Money Management articles from October 2007

Money Management archives from October 2007

The FSA is appealing.
October 1, 2007... So. The FSA has decided to appeal against the Information Commissioner's demand that it name and shame the LAUTRO 12. The main reason given is that, because this whole fiasco came to light as a result of an informal investigation, the FSA wants...

MM sparks FOS campaign.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Reader takes matter to local MP An adviser is launching a campaign to have the Treasury review the operations of the Financial Ombudsman (FOS) after reading the arguments presented in two recent Money Management articles. ...

Slicing up the market.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Increasing segmentation will lower standard annuity rates Linking annuity rates to postcodes was first considered by Norwich Union in 2003 but dismissed as unworkable. Now Legal & General and Hargreaves Lansdown have joined...

Not such a cash cow.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Cash funds not necessarily low risk Fidelity has warned that cash funds are not necessarily the low risk investment that many assume them to be and has called for greater awareness of the different types of cash fund. The fund...

Now for the bad news.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Outlook bleak for UK pensions savings Pension scheme trustees and consumers are still not making the most of pensions investment, according to new research. In its annual survey of money purchase schemes, Hewitt Associates...

Forced inheritance.
October 1, 2007... Byline: France reforms IHT threshold Tax experts have warned Britons who own French holiday homes that recent changes to the country's inheritance tax (IHT) do not change succession laws that give children more inheritance rights than...

Blast from the past.
October 1, 2007... Byline: News from 25 years ago In our October 1982 issue we reported that the Life Offices Association was fighting to regain its influence after tax avoidance schemes spawned a generation of assurance companies that never joined its...

Awards finalists.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Shortlist for Financial Planner of the Year 2007 Money Management is pleased to announce the shortlist for the 2007 Financial Planner of the Year Awards. They are, in alphabetical order: David Baker, Mazar's Financial Planning,...

A return to the fray.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Lender still going strong with sub prime DB Mortgages has launched a new range of sub prime mortgages, including a buy to let offering. Rates on the near prime product start at 5.75% for a two year fixed rate deal, 75% loan to value...

Green and pleasant land.
October 1, 2007... Standard Life has added to its ethical fund range with the launch of the European Equity Ethical fund on 24 September, managed by Stuart Fraser. The investment company with variable capital (ICVC) will invest in European equities that...

Dipping a toe in the water.
October 1, 2007... Thames River is launch-ing its new multi-manager range, managed by ex-Credit Suisse managers Rob Burdett and Gary Potter, on 1 October. The range will initially be made up of five funds, the Global Boutiques fund, the Equity Managed fund,...

ETFs come on board here 54.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Supermarkets act on pressure from advisers Adviser pressure is causing fund supermarkets to diversify their offerings in order to keep advisers from moving onto full wraps, an industry expert has said. Colin Tipping, client...

Plan linked to FTSE 100.
October 1, 2007... The Growth Investment Plan Plus 10 is Legal & General's latest capital protected investment product. It promises to provide investors with 160% of any capital growth in the FTSE 100 over six years as well as the return of the original capital...

Clever combinations.
October 1, 2007... Zurich has introduced two new term assurance products: a decreasing and a level term assurance plan. The Decreasing Mortgage Cover and the Level Protection plans can be combined with other types of cover, including income protection, and can...

Charge of the life brigade.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Letter of the month Cracking September article re LAUTRO! However, the regulator of the day, LAUTRO, who were overseen ultimately by Sir Andrew Large as chairman of the SIB (and until very recently went on to become deputy...

With profits advice.
October 1, 2007... The FSA has said that it is not terribly happy with the ongoing advice that clients should, but don't receive concerning their with profit policies. I have in front of me a letter from Friends Provident to a client who took out a plan in...

Menu fiasco.
October 1, 2007... Despite the FSA's apparent humiliation at the hands of MiFid over the menu it is suggesting darkly that IFAs would be well advised to continue issuing to our clients all these now outlawed documents... or else what? If we simply stop bothering...

John Tilner's leaving bash.
October 1, 2007... So, not content with spending our fees on paintings for their lobby the FSA have been pushing the boat out for Tiner's leaving bash. A cool AGBP10,022 + VAT to invite industry fat cats aboard HMS Belfast for a 3.5 hour party. I wonder what...

FSA comes of age.
October 1, 2007... It is nearly 20 years since the Financial Services Act of 1986 was enacted in 1988, and I feel it is fitting to give an evaluation of progress from a consumer viewpoint. So how has regulation fulfiled its heady promise of nearly 20 years...

Mortgages for peculiar properties.
October 1, 2007... There are many reasons why home buyers may consider an alternative to the traditional three bed semi or terraced house. With the number of affordable inner city houses ever decreasing, the option of securing finance on a converted barn or...

Behind the misty lens.
October 1, 2007... The stereotype that investment trusts suffer is that they are riskier, more complicated, less high profile and only suitable for the sophisticated investor, if that, when compared to fluffier and friendlier unit trusts/investment companies with...

S&P's top 15 UK life insurers.(Company overview)
October 1, 2007... As Standard & Poor's conducts its annual review of the UK life sector, many of the themes discussed 12 months ago are equally applicable today. The sector enjoyed another strong year of returns from equity and property markets, wrote...

Divide and rule.
October 1, 2007... Byline: IFAs disagree on the interpretation of independence Divisions are opening up in the IFA ranks in the face of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR). So far, the Association of Independent Financial Advisers (AIFA) has issued three...

eBay for money.
October 1, 2007... As banks in the UK continue to earn GDP-sized profits despite growing customer dissatisfaction, a brave new challenge to their dominance has grown out of the online community phenomena. Called social lending, it is the next key step in the...

Implausible regulation.
October 1, 2007... Byline: The retail distribution review falls short in analysis, direction, credibility and effectiveness, says John Chapman The FSA discussion paper DP 07/1, 'A review of retail distribution' (the RDR) is bereft of facts and figures about...

Cheap as chips?
October 1, 2007... Looking across a number of price examples shown on the Exchange quote portal in recent weeks, it soon becomes clear that the price differential between critical illness (CI) and life cover has never been wider. Over the years the price of...

Personal pensions: latest results.
October 1, 2007... According to a survey just published by Alliance Trust, 26% of British adults have failed to make any provision whatsoever for their retirement. The situation is getting worse rather than better: a year ago the equivalent figure was 20% with no...

Reasons to be cheerful.
October 1, 2007... Despite rising interest rates and a slowing housing market, survey after survey shows that the buy to let sector continues to boom. The latest figures from the CML show that nearly 172,000 buy to let loans worth AGBP21.2bn were written in the...

Taking stock - investment after the credit crisis.
October 1, 2007... Effective action by the ECB, then followed by the Fed, ensured that the credit crunch of August was ameliorated before it turned into a vicious spiral. Nevertheless fear remains, exemplified by the market whispers that flourished when Barclay's...

Will Redwood spark a charges investigation?
October 1, 2007... The August report, 'Freeing Britain to compete', from the Economic Competitiveness Policy Group (ECPG), co-chaired by former cabinet minister John Redwood and Next chief executive Simon Wolfson, contained proposals on pensions. These included...

Abolition of IHT?
October 1, 2007... The Conservatives have looked to re-establish their reputation for cutting taxes by unveiling radical plans to abolish inheritance tax (IHT). This revelation was made in the report 'Freeing Britain to compete' - the product of the Economic...

Saving the nation.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Fee-based advice boost National Savings and Investments (NS&I) is looking to increase the number of sales that it makes through IFAs. John Prout, sales and retention director for NS&I, said that greater sales through IFAs would...

Looking for guidance.
October 1, 2007... Byline: FSA to approve industry guidelines The FSA has introduced a framework that will allow recognition of guidance issues by trade bodies, professional associations and firms. The move is seen as a step closer to principles based...

More power to advisers.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Providers explain their stance on protection A protection specialist has warned advisers not to rely on an apparently new approach to non disclosure from providers. LV= is promising to pay out income protection claims in full in...

Closed please.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Fund managers prefer investment trusts Fund managers in charge of both investment trusts and unit trusts or investment companies with variable capital (ICVCs) say that their personal preference is for investment trusts as an...

The professionals?
October 1, 2007... Byline: Advisers' differences exposed IFAs have responded to a survey of MPs' perception of them with a mixture of resignation, indifference and derision. The survey, conducted on behalf of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) found...

Price of advice.
October 1, 2007... Byline: Closed funds still causing grief Millions of investors are unable to get advice about whether they should keep or transfer out of their closed with profits policies, according to a report from the Financial Services Consumer Panel,...