It is interesting that in the past few weeks, we reported on FCA measures to stymie advice firms, facing British Steel transfer complaints and owing compensation payments, from disposing of assets. This tended to be case by case. The regulator has now put out a more over-arching policy statement involving rules on which it did not consult because it views this as an emergency.
The intervention was revealed in a policy statement on 25 April with the FCA suggesting any longer consultation could have seen more assets taken out of firms.
Interesting to watch a process where the regulator finally seems to be acting with reasonable haste.
This has to be good news after a fashion – consumer complaints about financial services firms fell 10 per cent in the second half of 2021 according to the latest FCA figures.
It did still amount to 1.84 million complaints though at least they fell in every product category.
Hinesh Patel, portfolio manager at Quilter suggests that now may be the time to buy US bonds given the poor economic outlook and indeed most recent data.
The latest US GDP data shows that on an annualised basis, economic output shrank by 1.4 per cent in the first three months of 2022.
The Janus Henderson Property Fund has found a buyer - as yet unnamed – and the process of breaking up the fund will begin. Always interesting to see how much value can be extracted by others.
The NASDAQ index has seen its biggest monthly drop since 2008 as the FT reports.
Your reviewer does not have credentials as a market analyst, but this must surely be about more than Russia. It does feel as if some previous exuberance, especially that displayed during the pandemic is now coming out of the figures. You might also speculate whether tech is – to some degree – reattaching to the real economy.
Downturns do sometimes show what’s been hidden, but rather than some terrible scandal in this case it may simply be revealing how diverse sectors are more connected than we thought.
Many advisers tend to have a stronger international and US tilt these days so it may have a more direct impact. Interesting to see if advisers feel it merits some client comms.
Robin Bevan, CEO of Sprint Enterprise, explains why platform integration problems are so common in New Model Adviser.
We’ll quote a couple of pars to show how far we are from an open universe.
“With 30+ platforms and 100+ software systems, the number of point-to-point integrations required to bring about a fully integrated environment runs into the thousands. All these connections have to be put in place, maintained, and support provided – an enormous drain on an industry running on wafer-thin margins.
“Second, the complexity of these integrations is getting so much greater. Gone are the days where valuations are the ‘currency’ for these integrations – software systems increasingly need transaction-level data to power their applications.”
The full article is worth a read for concerned advisers at least in understanding some of the ‘whys’.
