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Turning up late to interview Labour MP Angela Eagle is not a good start. Blaming public transport and "severe weather warnings" is also inadvisable when you realise that she has […]

Buy-to-let borrowers are finding it harder to secure loans after rental yields fell last year, according to IFA Savills Private Finance. CML figures show that the buy-to-let market continued to […]

IFA group Positive Solutions has criticised rival Bankhall over its claims that it cannot reconcile its advisers' commission because of inaccurate electronic statements from product providers. Positive Solutions is also […]

IFA support services provider Bankhall is developing the first stage of a wrap product using policy aggregation software from IT giant Microsoft. Bankhall says it intends to work in partnership […]

Aifa director general Paul Smee is aiming to Allay fears that the IFA market is diminishing and that the number of advisers in the sector will fall following depolarisation. In […]

The introduction of a 1.5 per cent price cap on child trust funds is being heralded by the industry as a climbdown by the Government but the victory dance may […]

Scottish National Party MP Alex Salmond has challenged the Treasury over its financial reserve requirements for mutual companies. Salmond raised fears over the future of demutualised life companies in a […]

IFAs do not plan to advise their clients to transfer out of Standard Life's with-profits fund but will not recommend Standard for new with-profits business, according to a survey for […]

The Destini group has beaten around 70 other bidders to buy the client list of collapsed investment IFA the David Aaron Partnership. Destini was one of about 70 firms interested […]

Treasure select committee member Angela Eagle has warned IFAs to expect a radical restructuring of the commission system in the wake of the committee's analysis of the life sector. Following […]

Chairman of the Treasury select committee John McFall has lashed out at life offices over their failure to accept responsibility for misselling endowments. Speaking to Money Marketing, McFall says he […]

Prestbury Financial is predicting a 40-50 per cent reduction in the headcount in the financial services industry by the end of the year due to a big number of mortgage […]

Shadow Treasury Chief Secretary Howard Flight is calling for the Treasury to provide accurate figures to reveal if IFA regulatory fees have gone down in line with fines paid by […]

Product providers believe the Treasury's justification for raising the price cap to 1.5 per cent for child trust funds should have been applied to stakeholder pensions and should be introduced […]

Bankhall's IT director has slammed product providers for sending out electronic commission statements that do not match the mounts of money they pay into its bank accounts. Director Nigel Hopwood […]

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vincent Cable is tabling a question to Chancellor Gordon Brown this week on whether the Government will continue to support mutuals following the recent turmoil surrounding […]

Bloomsbury Financial Planning is offering investors an online financial planner on its website. The service allows clients to enter details and then provides a series of what if scenarios based […]

The Treasury is to modify its proposals for the Sandler suite so they will comply with the Investment Services Directive, according to Ron Sandler. Sandler told the select committee that […]

Labour MP Angela Eagle has blamed product providers for creating "market failure on a massive scale" in the financial services sector and damaging consumer confidence. Speaking at a Treasury select […]

Legal & General group chief executive David Prosser has denied to MPs on the Treasury select committee that the company has missold endowments. Testifying before the committee's investigation into long-term […]

Treasury select committee chairman John McFall has attacked Standard Life and new group chief executive Sandy Crombie for failing to be honest with policyholders over its decision to consider demutualisation. […]

Abbey is moving 900 jobs from its Edinburgh offices to Glasgow part of its review of UK operations. The move could mean redundancies among the 700 Scottish Provident staff based […]

A term insurance policy takes an average of 48 days to be put on risk, according to research by IFA Torquil Clark. Torquil says it sold term policies from 15 […]

Liberal Democrat MP Nick Harvey is fighting the corner of a constituent IFA's firm which faces closure if the fine levied against it by the Financial Ombudsman Service is not […]

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy wants to cut the burden of red tape for small businesses by establishing an independent body to regulate the FSA. Speaking at a business forum […]

Interlink Premier Network is inviting members to participate in its flotation plans by making a minimum 5,000 [pounds sterling] investment. Interlink has sent a letter to its 188-RI membership and […]

Chris Regan left the family bullion business in London's Hatton Garden to enter financial services but still has a golden touch. After joining Woolwich Building Society as an IFA from […]

IFAs will transact at least 2.8bn [pounds sterling] worth of business a year electronically within five years, according to research from The Exchange. It questioned 350 firms On their attitudes […]

A new website designed to link buyers with WA practices up for sale is attracting foreign firms looking at moving into file UK market. The brokers4sale site was launched by […]

The high-net-worth market has changed significantly over the last three years, with a switch to alternative investments, says Market Dynamics Research & Consulting. The firm says the HNW sector is […]

UK households are throwing away 2.2bn [pounds sterling] each year on expensive mortgages, according to figures from Which?. The Consumers' Association, publishers of Which?, believes that too many households are […]

A deal between IFA technology providers Synaptic Systems and The Exchange will leave just three major players in the quotations and new business services market. Synaptic will bow out of […]

IFA group Lifeboat Financial chief executive David Kitchen has resigned after spending three years developing the business. Kitchen says he is reviewing his options and plans to stay in the […]

With Capricorn rising in the new moon I foresee a number of dramatic interplanetary changes in 2004. Thursdays will be especially lucky next year for no particular reason. Saturn will […]

Assureweb has attacked rival technology providers for making their systems and websites too difficult for advisers to use. Chief executive officer Charles Bryant wants providers to review their offerings and […]

The prospect of depolarisation saw a distribution carve-up in 2003 with companies fighting it out for IFAs although prices have fallen over the past few years. Advisers joined and left […]

Destini has made its fourteenth purchase this year with a deal to buy Bloomsbury Financial Planning. London IFA Bloomsbury is run by Sofa director Jason Butler and Campbell Edgar and […]

A South-west IFA has slammed product providers for making his clients even more cynical about the financial services industry. Anstey Financial Planning director Gerard O'Boyle believes his clients are losing […]

Chief executive of the Financial Services Skills Council David Jackman is stepping down after just six months in the role, voicing concerns that it will become a money-making organisation Jackman, […]

IFAs feel swamped by red tape and increasing volumes of paperwork. In a survey carried out for Money Marketing by H2B, red tape emerges as the biggest problem IFAs face […]

Advisers' biggest complaint is over call centres, with the majority saying they believe this is the major problem they have in dealing with product providers, according to Money Marketing's 1,000 […]

IFA Corporate Planning Group has negotiated a 750,000 [pounds sterling] loan from Bankhall Investment Associates to fund its expansion plans for 2004. CPG has a total of 75 registered individuals […]

Cambridge-based IFA Group 300 is set to renew its bid for network Burns Anderson after Tenet's decision to quit the race. The 564-RI network has been up for sale for […]

David Kenmir is to take on a new role as head of intermediaries in an FSA reshuffle. A document seen by Money Marketing outlining the changes reveals that the reorganisation […]

The Treasury select committee has accused the FSA of ignoring a culture of systemic misselling and tolerating endemic mispricing of mortgage endowments. Labour MP Angela Eagle told FSA chief executive […]

Providers could be fined for mismanaging child trust funds. A draft of the Child Trust Fund Bill, included in the Queen's Speech, says a provider which "fraudulently or negligently makes […]

The Far East was the leading investment trust sector in October according to figures from the AITC. The Far East has bounced back following the Sars scare this year which […]

A new pension regulator will form part of the pension protection scheme aimed at covering company schemes that have folded. The Queen's Speech last week set out plans to step […]

The IFA sector could save 71m [pounds sterling] a year by using technology to provide policy valuations for existing clients, according to figures from the Financial Technology Research Centre. The […]

The Exchange is launching the first equity-release trading platform for the IFA market through its ExWeb portal. The service will give access to a full range of equity-release products to […]