Given that the story of the summer for IFAs – besides COVID-19 – is rocketing FSCS bills – it seems important that the editor of Sunday Times Money James Coney is sympathetic to how much bills rise and fall with no way to plan.
Standard Life Aberdeen has had to write off £45m from its involvement in a joint venture with Virgin Money mostly blamed on COVID-19 related issues.
Protection expert Roger Edwards asks what the protection industry can do to benefit from heightened interest in insurance without resorting to insensitive marketing messages, as he writes in Money Marketing.
The Investment Association statistics suggest that investors went back into in retail funds after the dramatic market falls earlier this year, with £11.2bn flowing into funds in the second quarter.
The Competition and Markets Authority looks set to block the merger between FNZ and GBST as it raises fears that the deal could lead to millions of UK consumers facing higher fees and lower quality services. Interesting given how little the underlying tech of platforms is reported upon.
To quote the CMA inquiry group chair Martin Coleman, he says: "The evidence we've seen so far consistently points in the same direction - that FNZ and GBST are two of the leading suppliers within this market and compete closely against each other.
"That's why we're concerned that their merger could lead to investment platforms, and therefore indirectly millions of UK consumers who hold pensions or other investments, facing higher fees and lower quality services. We're now inviting comments on our provisional findings and possible remedies."
Mahendree Naidoo, head of private client legal at solicitors Moore Kingston Smith says that a solicitor should supervise the remote signing of wills. Otherwise they are likely to be subject to challenge.
