The big news from last week is that the Bank of England has raised rates sharply to beat inflation, as Money Marketing reports.
The base rate has increased by 0.75% to 3%, a magnitude of rise not seen since the early 1990s.
There are suggestions from the Bank that we should see a steep fall in inflation around the middle of next year sparking a debate about what that means for rate rises.
MM quotes LV’s chief investment officer Adam Ruddle saying: “While an increased rate helps tackle inflation it hinders economic growth. The BoE’s views on inflation have fallen as a result of the energy price capping initiatives but risks have increased that inflation may remain entrenched for longer than previously expected.
“This likely means that interest rates will continue to rise and remain at higher levels for longer. We anticipate that interest rates will continue to rise and may reach 3.75% by the end of 2023.”
The Lang Cat’s Mark Polson tells the PFS conference that the main issue with the consumer duty is going to be communication with clients, but that underlying problem will be too much information sent by providers.
“You simply cannot give somebody a 95 page [terms and conditions] document and think it is fine because the client can't possibly make an informed judgement based on that,” he said.
The FCA took action against 4,151 rogue financial promotions between July and September. These are impressive figures, but you do have to wonder if the regulator is fighting a losing battles given the sheer weight of numbers.
Sterling portfolios have fallen by a third this year, according to analysis by Asset Risk Consultants though of course that has not been fully felt by clients who plan to remain invested in sterling.
Nearly all retirees at Workers Pension Trust, Smart Pension Master Trust, and Creative Pension Trust make full cash withdrawals while over 75 per cent of savers at L&G, Nest, and The People’s Pension fully cash out, according to a new report from Corporate Adviser.
