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This morning saw the publication of the Financial Conduct Authority’s long-awaited final findings of its asset management market study. It’s an important report, because the UK’s asset management industry is the second largest in the world, managing £6.9trn of investor cash. Of this, more than £1trn is managed on behalf of individual investors and a further […]

Can a financial adviser go into a care home or approach adults with dementia in their own homes to drum up business? This was the question leading an article on the front page of the Money section in the Sunday Times yesterday. The article was prompted by a Financial Ombudsman Service ruling, which found restricted […]

One of the costs we face as a regulated business is funding the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). This compensation scheme, which was established by government but is paid for by regulated financial services businesses, is designed to protect the customers of failed firms. The funding system for the FSCS means that solvent firms like […]

Robo-advice. Possibly the least accurate title the world of financial services has created in recent memory. After all, there are no robots and there is no advice. Regardless of what we call it (execution-only investment? investor directed platforms?), it is becoming clear that robo-advice is failing investors. The Financial Services Consumer Panel has published research […]

Closed-book customers are more likely to be fairly treated with the publication of new FCA guidance. Do you have any pensions, investments or insurance policies with ‘closed-book’ life assurance providers? When you’re a customer of a business which is no longer taking on new business, you can sometimes feel like you get a bit less […]

Is the FCA going to be able to get fund managers in better shape in the UK’s £7trn asset management sector? That’s the question the Financial Conduct Authority has set out to answer in their asset management market study. The project started last November with the publication of a terms of reference and has now […]

On the day we get plagued by tiny ghosts, ghouls and zombies demanding sweets at our front doors, I want to share a truly scary financial issue. Thousands of people have lost their hard-earned pension savings as a result of fraud. As The Pensions Regulator reminds us, scammers are after your pension pot. These fraudsters […]

[smart_track_player url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/informedchoice/ICR121_Tom_Blomfield_A_New_Kind_of_Banking-ICR121_Tom_Blomfield_A_New_Kind_of_Banking_.mp3″ title=”ICR121: Tom Blomfield, A New Kind of Banking” social=”true” social_twitter=”true” social_facebook=”true” social_gplus=”true” social_linkedin=”true” social_pinterest=”true” social_email=”true” ] In this episode of Informed Choice Radio, I speak to Tom Blomfield, CEO and co-founder of Monzo, a new smartphone-based bank. He previously founded GoCardless, the UK’s largest Direct Debit Processor, which has gone on to raise […]

We are all getting older and this is having a big impact on the financial decisions we make. The number of people over age 65 in the UK is expected to rise by 1.1 million during the next five years alone. At the same time, the proportion of people over 100 will rise by 40%. […]

[smart_track_player url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/informedchoice/David20Stein-MP320for20Audio20Podcasting.mp3″ title=”ICR115: David Stein, Money For The Rest of Us” artist=”Informed Choice Radio” social=”true” social_twitter=”true” social_facebook=”true” social_gplus=”true” social_linkedin=”true” social_pinterest=”true” social_email=”true” ] What happens when a money manager responsible for billions of dollars of investments feels burnt out and decides to become a personal finance teacher instead? In this episode of Informed Choice Radio, I […]