We know that heated debates, discussions and last-minute drafts have characterised the climate change conference in Glasgow. Reviews are mixed but it may be a while before we get the full analysis from the financial services industry.
Abrdn is in talks to buy Interactive Investor for £1.5bn as Financial Planner reports no doubt as a consumer investor and platform play. It would be interesting to see how Abrdn envisages this working in practice. Whatever else lots of asset managers increasingly have a distribution presence.
The Financial Service Compensation Scheme has cut its forecast levy from £833m to £717m for 2022.
This is a 13 per cent reduction and comes as a result of lower than anticipated investment payouts and firm failures.
AJ Bell founder Andy Bell has been considering the recent private equity and M&A activity among platforms. Writing in Money Marketing, he has some advice for advisers which does sound rather astute.
“Due diligence on the financial strength of platforms often confuses having wealthy parents with the platform being financially viable. Always ask if a platform is making (or is likely to make) a profit commensurate with the investment made by its owner. If not, at best this should be a signal for future increases to charges. At worst, the canary will be flat out under its perch and M&A activity is around the corner.”
Advice firms are not averse to mergers of course. IWP has added £362m under management with the purchase of AS Grant and Custodian Wealth Management.
The way senior Bank of England officials described the monetary policy environment in the run up to the recent interest rate decision was a definite “policy mistake”, according to George Lagarais, chief economist at Mazars.
There are arguably two significant COP26 stories – the first is the agreement between the US and China on methane, CO2 and enforcing import bans on wood from important rain forests.
The second is that the clauses regarding coal have been weakened mostly on the urgings of India.
Does this mean that COP 26 is a COP out or should we be grateful for any progress?
New Model Adviser suggests that many investors want to see a price put on carbon which would drive investment in green technology.
No doubt much more analysis will follow.
