The British Steel transfer fiasco has seen the owner of Celtic Wealth being banned for 13 years by the Insolvency Service.
Darren Antony Reynolds, 51, from Willenhall, West Midlands, was the sole director of Active Wealth (UK) Limited. It does feel that this is at the most egregious end of what went wrong. The matter will continue to dog the reputation of the industry.
I have some quite strong views that a panel of advisers should have been established rather than simply what feels like a free for all being allowed in which the most unscrupulous benefited most and now have been banned for a long time.
True Potential may seek to list using a SPAC vehicle otherwise known as a Special Purpose Acquisition Vehicle.
It is quite the intro on Sky News as it reports – “a wealth management platform which works with a fifth of Britain's financial advisers has drawn takeover interest from a blank cheque company set up by Bernard Arnault, one of the world's richest men”.
Arnault is, among other things, the founder of luxury brand LMVH. His vehicle Pegasus Europe says it is contemplating mergers with "numerous" targets, and that True Potential was just one of the assets it had tabled offers for.
In slightly less blockbuster news, Nutmeg is bought by JP Morgan. This was always on the cards surely, though the question remains can a new independent business of this nature ever shake up the market without a giant parent? The move may fit with JPM’s plans for launching into online banking.
Quilter is cutting back its workforce by several hundred. IFAs will be monitoring to see if this impacts on levels of service for the platform and the network.
