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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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.
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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.
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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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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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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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.
More than half of workers (54%) are ignorant about the size of their pension pots, according to a major survey by pensions industry trade body the PLSA.
Savings sector trade body TISA and fintech Altus have launched an online self-assessment tool, the Vulnerability Radar, to help firms “understand and identify” how to support vulnerable customers.
SIPP and SSAS provider Curtis Banks has called for the protection of pension tax relief in the Budget on 11 March amid concerns relief could be chopped back or axed.
Retirement and protection specialist LV= has move to a tiered charging structure on its personal pension which will favour largers sums invested.
HMRC says that a ‘record breaking’ 11.1m taxpayers beat the 31 January tax return deadline but 958,000 still missed the cut off date.
The FCA has stressed that there will be no changes to its rules and regulations despite the UK exiting the EU tonight at 11 pm (31 January).
Following Brexit the UK will enter an implementation period which is due to last until 31 December.
The watchdog said that during this implementation period EU law will continue to apply and firms and funds will continue to benefit from passporting between the UK and EEA countries.
Consumer rights and protections under EU law will also remain in place.
In guidance to regulated firms the FCA said: “There will therefore be no changes to the reporting obligations for firms, including those for MiFIR transaction reporting, under EMIR, and for CRAs, which will continue in line with existing EU regulatory requirements.”
The windows for EEA firms to notify the FCA that they want to use the Temporary Permissions Regime (TPR), or for fund managers to notify the regulator of any funds they want to continue to market in the UK under the Temporary Marketing Permissions Regime (TMPR), closed yesterday (30 January).
Andrew Bailey, FCA chief executive, said: “The work the FCA has undertaken, along with government and the Bank of England, ensured the financial services sector was one of the best prepared industries for any of the possible Brexit outcomes.
“The implementation period gives firms a period of certainty while negotiations are continuing on our future relationship with the EU.”
He said the FCA would use the implementation period to work with government, the Bank of England, firms and other regulators to ensure the financial services industry is ready for the end of 2020.
The FCA has, however, urged firms to prepare now for actions to ensure that post 1 January 2021 they minimise risks to customers.
The FCA provides regular updates on its Brexit webpages, and firms can also call the FCA Brexit information line (0800 048 4255).