Latest Blogs
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James Jones-Tinsley: Aiming for an advice-guidance sweetspot
As Nikhil Rathi is reappointed as CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for another five years, the FCA has set out its strategic direction for 2025/26, with important implications for financial advisers.
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Lisa Webster: Maximising protected tax-free cash
While 2024 ended with a lot of doom and gloom in the pension world following the big announcement on inheritance tax (IHT), there was some good news that may have slipped under the radar of some advisers.
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Tilley: Is the age 75 trigger date now irrelevant?
Age 75 has been an important milestone in pension rules since A day in 2006. It was the latest age at which a compulsory annuity purchase was required (prior to Pensions Freedoms). It's arguably it’s long been an arbitrary line in the sand, noting that life expectancy has been on the increase for the last 20 years, but this trigger age has remained unchanged.
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Lisa Webster: Overcomplicated rules are a threat
It may be more than a year since the Lifetime Allowance was formally abolished but issues are still emerging from the mess made by rushed legislation.
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James Jones-Tinsley: Guided Retirement Duty could be game changer
During May, the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI), sponsored by The Pensions Regulator (TPR), concluded that defined contribution (DC) pension savers – including those in SIPPs, as well as in Workplace Pensions - require more guidance when choosing suitable retirement products.
Popular News
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TPT launches DC decumulation product
Workplace pension provider TPT Retirement Solutions has launched a DC decumulation product, which it said has been designed to simplify retirement income planning for savers.
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Workers in the dark about workplace pensions
Two in five, 43%, UK workers don’t know how much they are contributing to their workplace pension.
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1.5m workers can't afford to save into a pension
More than 1.5m UK workers say they cannot afford to save into a pension.
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Lisa Webster: To gift or not to gift?
Since the announcement that pensions are to be included in estates for inheritance tax (IHT) purposes the question of whether those with large pension pots should be giving some funds away has become increasingly common.
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Pension transfer times rose during tax year end
Simpler pension transfers took an average of just 11 days to complete in the lead up to the end of the 2024/25 tax year.
The Coronavirus pandemic has created the 'perfect storm' for those in income drawdown and many may never fully recover from the impact, according to a new report.
After an unsteady period, defined benefit (DB) pension transfer values increased to a record high during June and the number of members taking a transfer value rebounded strongly too.
Mattioli Woods has made three new board appointments including replacing their chief financial officer. The wealth manager and employee benefits business said that all directors and staff will not be paid their bonuses for the year.
The FCA plans to launch an enhanced Financial Services Register later this month to replace the existing register.
The changeover will happen on Monday 27 July with the previous register withdrawn on Friday 24 July.
Later in the year the regulator will add a directory of certified and assessed persons to reflect the introduction of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR)
The revamped Register will have a new look and include improvements in response to user feedback.
According to the FCA, the changes will make it easier to find and understand information on the Register.
Firms will be expected to update any links they have to pages on the current Financial Services Register, other than those to the homepage, once the enhanced Register launches.
All current links will be redirected to the enhanced Register’s homepage. The existing Financial Services Register will cease to be available from 6pm on Friday 24 July so that work can take place over the weekend to make the enhanced Register ready for the start of business on Monday 27 July, says the FCA.
The SM&CR regime involves the FCA publishing and maintaining a directory of “certified and assessed” persons on the Financial Services Register. This is to help consumers and professionals check details of key individuals working in financial services.
The directory persons information was planned for March this year but put back partly due to the Coronavirus outbreak and also because the FCA also experienced “operational challenges” when processing some bulk data file submissions from dual-regulated firms at peak periods.
Banks, building societies, credit unions and insurance companies can continue to update the information on their past and present certified employees for inclusion in the directory when it launches later this year.
The FCA recently announced it had proposed extending the previous deadline of 9 December 2020 for solo-regulated firms to submit information about Directory Persons to the Register to 31 March 2021.
The FCA will however allow still publish details of certified employees of solo firms starting from 9 December 2020 on the Register where firms can supply this information before March.
The FCA has pushed back publication of its Annual Report and Accounts - due this month - for at least two months due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Over three quarters (83%) of Financial Planners want the Lifetime Allowance (LTA) scrapped due to the complexity of the rules and protections, according to a new poll.