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In its latest paper, Aifa has asked the FSA why it is focusing on capital adequacy for IFAs when a much wider debate is needed about financial stability in general. […]

Alan Lakey questions the Financial Ombudsman Service's time-bar stance One of the less risible elements of the RDR paper is the tacit acceptance that the Financial Ombudsman Service should recognise […]

Henderson's multi-manager team has sold the Axa Framlington global technology fund from its independent growth portfolio following fund manager Nick Evans' move to Polar Capital. The proceeds have been reinvested […]

Arch Financial Products says it will not make any major changes to the funds of funds it recently acquired from Insinger de Beaufort. The company manages money in a slightly […]

By Helen Pow Aegon Scottish Equitable says it is unlikely to follow Legal & General and abolish consumers' requirement to disclose changes to their circumstances between the application process and […]

Cofunds, FundsNetwork and Seven Investment Management have agreed to let advisers view client portfolios held between the three platforms. The trio say the move will better enable advisers to monitor […]

Alliance & Leicester current account customers will not be charged overdraft interest from 22 October, the firm has announced. Instead a set of daily fees for overdrafts will replace interest [...]

Lighthouse Group has seen first-half profits leap by 66 per cent and says it is on track to pay its first dividend next year. Profits rose to #786,000 #786,000 for […]

Resolution says it is prepared to change the terms of its agreed merger with Friends Provident to drive through the deal and fend off any threats from Pearl Assurance. Chairman […]

Aifa says industry research shows that the IFA sector had turnover of #6.5bn last year and net profits of 13.5 per cent, which contradicts the FSA's assertion that the advice […]

Threesixty is urging IFAs to respond to the retail distribution review and warns they should not dismiss it as merely a discussion document. The support service firm says the FSA's […]

Threesixty is warning advisers upgrading to the new Microsoft Office suite of products to proceed with care. The support services provider says it has been testing Office 2007 and found […]

Real estate fund management group Invista is favouring traditional markets over central and eastern Europe. Tim Francis, director of European strategy and research for Invista, said: 'Yield compression across continental [...]

Fund of hedge fund managers could be overstating the value of accessing underlying managers that are closed to new business, says multi- strategy manager Liongate Capital. It says many funds […]

Three out of four IFAs would like to see providers target their technology budget on improving electronic valuation services over the next five years, according to Threesixty. Research from the [...]

ADVISERS must alter their sales focus if the UK protection gap is to be bridged, Bright Grey has warned. Roger Edwards, products director for Bright Grey, said added value had [...]

Independent pension consultant Dr Ros Altmann has accused the Government of acting like a dictatorship. She is calling for IFAd to rally against the Government and write to their local […]

Aifa says the FSA should include availability of advice as part of the suitability criteria when advising on personal pensions to take into account the lack of IFAs selling stakeholder […]

Gartmore says it is considering flotation but has played down rumours that a move is imminent. US insurer Nationwide bought Gartmore from NatWest in 2000 and is believed to be […]

THE TIME it takes to transfer from occupational pensions means unless IFAs act now, their clients could be trapped in old-style arrangements, Defaqto has warned. In a report entitled Individual [...]

CORDEA Savills' new Diversified Residential Opportunities fund which specialises in UK residential properties has won praise from the IFA market. Roger Kennedy, IFA for Lisburn-based Aiken Kennedy, said: 'The fund [...]

Cordea Savills, the fund management arm of the Savills property services group, has set up a fund which will trade in land. The serviced land investment fund, which has a […]

Baring Asset Management says it continues to see Russia as an attractive investment opportunity, after Russian equities gained 20% in dollar terms so far this year, to the end of [...]

THE Financial Ombudsman Service has criticised IFAs who failed to warn investors that a market value adjustment could be made to with profits policies. The ombudsman said intermediaries in the [...]

A WILTSHIRE-based IFA is calling for the regulation of management claims companies after its clients received a flood of aggressive sales-style literature. The promotional material from various management claims companies [...]

This may come as a bit of a shock to you but Gordon Brown recently cracked a joke. I'm not sure if they were rolling in the aisles at the [...]

Pointon York Sipp Solutions is offering a specialist French property Sipp in anticipation of strong interest in the overseas buy-to-let market after A-Day. The firm says it seeking written confirmation […]

A surge in the levels of mortgage arrears is set to continue, says NCI Resources. The firm, which provides mortgage arrears counselling services for lenders, says the rise in arrears […]

JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management believes an understanding of behavioural finance is key to outperforming the US market. JPMF says the S&P 500 index is notoriously difficult to beat and […]

The FSA has warned that its treating customers fairly initiative will target small firms and IFAs from next month. The initiative has so far focused on bigger companies and product […]

NPI has blamed the closed-fund environment for refusing to supply pension fund values for groups of clients. NPI has deemed that producing fund values and transfer values for pension clients [...]

Moody's Investors Service Inc. upgraded its servicer rating for Citigroup Inc.'s CitiMortgage Inc. for prime residential mortgages to 'SQ1,' the rating agency's highest level. On Friday, Moody's said CitiMortgage's servicing [...]

In this year's battle, which comes to its conclusion today (5 May), there has been hours of discussion over which party is most likely to serve up the best concoction [...]

Fitch Inc. and Moody's Investors Service Inc. downgraded American International Group Inc.'s debt ratings Monday for the second time in two months. The downgrades came a day after the New [...]

WASHINGTON -- Members of the National Home Equity Mortgage Association will visit Capitol Hill in May to talk with legislators about the need to pass a uniform national standard in [...]

WASHINGTON -- For more than a year now Ameriquest Capital Corp. - the nation's largest subprime lender - has toyed with the idea of taking some portion of its mortgage [...]

I am what many would describe as very comfortably off and have recently married for the second time. While I love my wife very much, she is younger than I […]

Prudential has reported UK and Europe sales of #208m for Q1 2005, a 12% increase on last year. Group sales have risen by 11% to #478m. Philip Broadley, group finance [...]

Profits for the Co-op supermarket and financial services group have halved to #144m. The organisation blames an increasingly competitive market-but also says rapid expansion has brought difficulties. Copyright: Centaur Communications [...]

Cheltenham & Gloucester has withdrawn Key Facts Illustration production from its website due to lack of demand. The subsidiary of Lloyds TSB withdrew the facility at the end of March [...]

A war of words has broken out between two directors at Apple Home Loans over unpaid monies. AHL has since rebranded to Zest Home Loans, but an internal dispute has [...]

Growth in the buy-to-let market will be slower over the coming years, according to Nationwide's specialist lender UCB Home Loans. UCB says increased interest rates and a lower rate of […]

An investment analyst is claiming that shareholder activism can stifle enterprise and damage returns for investors. A book by Dr Arjuna Sittampalam, entitled Corporate Governance Activism - Desirable Doctrine or […]

The FSA must do more to stop the shabby and transparent tactics of claims-chasing solicitors Let me expand on a recent letter to Money Marketing concerning an online test application […]

Is this year's Budget good for your clients? "No. It is an election Budget, perhaps even bland. It is a Budget for the retired and is pretty neutral for the […]