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Prudential International and St James's Place are outsourcing life and pension admin services to Capita. The 260 Prudential staff who run St James's Place admin will transfer to Capita as […]

An investment industry spokesman has hit out at the lack of cooperation between the FSA and Treasury over the Sandler suite of products. Speaking at the Pep and Isa Managers' […]

A Conservative Government would seriously reconsider the role of the Treasury in imposing price caps on the industry, says Shadow Chancellor Oliver Letwin. Chancellor Gordon Brown's new opposite number says […]

A Treasury select committee member has raised concerns with the FSA over a new breed of structured product emerging in the marketplace. Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb wants the FSA […]

Advisers using Unipass are leaving themselves open to an individual liability of 15,000 [pounds sterling] each time they use the internet password system. When advisers access the Unipass site, a […]

New Troy Shadow Chancellor Oliver Letwin says he has no plans to include a price cap in his future policies. Speaking at the Pep and Isa Managers' Association annual conference […]

Chancellor Gordon Brown could receive a 7.2bn [pounds sterling] boost in tax revenue a year by leaving the proposed lifetime pension limit at 1.4m [pounds sterling], says a leading accountancy […]

The Government could risk allegations of misselling over the distribution of child trust funds, according to Labour, MP Jim Cousins. Treasury select committee member Cousins grilled Treasury and Inland Revenue […]

Treasury officials have told MPs that the child trust fund is a good opportunity to explain the virtues of investing in equities. A sub-committee of the Treasury select committee questioned […]

Television put Fidelity on top of the Presswatch table in October, with 297 mentions in the national press. The ITV merger saw an unprecedented level of coverage on Fidelity, with […]

The Financial Ombudsman Service looks set to waive the 360 [pounds sterling] case fee for the first two complaints made against an IFA firm in a year. This conciliatory step […]

IFA services provider Simply Biz is paying for its 600 members to join Aifa as part of an initiative to work more closely with the trade body. The Huddersfield-based group, […]

A leading Labour MP has blasted the insurance industry, accusing it of complacency, misrepresentation and bribery of distribution channels at a Treasury select committee hearing. Committee member Angela Eagle slammed […]

Savings plan providers are calling for a final decision on the 1 per cent price cap from the Treasury before they will consider adopting the child trust fund. ABI director […]

Most advisers do not believe the Government is doing enough to educate consumers to help prevent misselling, according to the Institute of Financial Services. Its figures show that 70 per […]

One of the industry's leading technology experts has branded wrap accounts an "unworkable" idea that will not get off the ground until providers decide to collaborate to share information. Origo […]

Group 300 has signed a lucrative deal with one of the UK's biggest trade unions which it says could boost its turnover by more than 40m [pounds sterling] next year. […]

The FSA is considering compelling advisers to include the option of trading down to a smaller property when advising clients on equity release. Chief executive John Tiner says he can [...]

The FSA teetered on the precipice of a policy to vet product ad material but backtracked on the whole idea, it emerged at a Treasury select committee meeting last week. [...]

The Bank of England is trapped between a rock and a hard place over interest rates, says Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vincent Cable. Cable believes the monetary policy Committee is […]

Treasury select committee chairman John McFall is urging the AITC to lead by example by making its future chairman comply with new corporate governance rules immediately. The Labour MP is [...]

The chief executive of a leading IFA network has described the Trinity Group's plans to launch an IFA co-operative as "ludicrous". Lifeboat Group chief executive officer David Kitchen says he […]

The woman who investigates complaints against the FSA has attacked the regulator's 'plethora of compensation schemes', describing them as costly and deficient. Under fire from the Treasury select committee, Complaints [...]

The FSA has been forced by the Treasury select committee to admit it does not know how long its inquiry into split-capital investment trusts will take although it claims it […]

FSA chief executive John Tiner has backed calls from the industry for the Treasury to include the Financial Ombudsman Service in its statutory review of the regulator. Responding to MPs […]

Calls for the relationship between the FSA and Financial Ombudsman Service to be scrutinised as part of the Treasury review are gaining support within the industry. The Treasury will announce […]

Wesleyan Assurance Society is cutting back its insurance saleforce as part of plans to shift from the mass market towards affinity group business and medical products. As part of the […]

Former Chancellor Lord Lawson has attacked the Government's failure to veto a decision by the EU's Italian presidency to force through the Investment Services Directive which could damage execution-only sales […]

The FSA has pulled back from plans to vet precipice bond marketing material before it reaches consumers. Speaking at a Treasury select committee meeting, LibDem MP Norman Lamb demanded to […]

Martyn Weaver and Bankhall, which he co-founded, have parted ways and he has moved from the 5,000-adviser giant and taken a number of staff with him to create new support […]

The Conservatives opened their annual conference in Blackpool this week with a pledge to scrap means testing for pensioners and introduce pensions linked to earnings if they are re-elected to […]

Prime Minister Tony Blair's favourite thinktank has reluctantly endorsed the Opposition's latest proposals to raise the state pension and link it to earnings. Speaking at a Scottish Life/ Money Marketing […]

An IFA co-operative is being Munched with the backing of Bankhall which offers network-style services and an equal ownership stake to member firms. The initiative, called Trinity House Group, will […]

Trading platform Mortgage 2000 is setting up a mortgage and general insurance network called m2i. The company already has 7,500 subscribers and plans to finance a network with a minimum […]

The Liberal Democrats are calling for the Department of Trade & Industry and its "Army of Sir Humphreys" to be scrapped. At the party conference in Brighton last week, Trade […]

A loophole in the new European Union tax savings plan spotted by Jersey's regulator could cause the directive to be delayed. Jersey Financial Services Commission spokesman John Harris says the […]

Manchester-based IFA Carrwood Barker has made its fourth acquisition in 12 months, snapping up accountancy specialist IFA Moorgate House for an undisclosed sum. The new firm will trade as Carrwood […]

The Liberal Democrats are calling for the Government to set up a compensation fund for workers who have already lost their pension pots in occupational scheme wind-ups. At the LibDems' […]

There was a record level of house purchase lending in August, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders' latest figures. The CML results show a swing towards house purchase away […]

Being able to manage money makes people more attractive to the opposite sex than good dress sense or owning your own home, according to Halifax research. Ninety-one per cent rank […]

The company that designed investigative software for the FBI is launching an IT package for the UK financial services market that aims to help companies analyse rival firms. The FSA […]

Berkeley Berry Birch's nursery network Alpha to Omega has been bought from its parent group in a management buyout deal. The directors of the Alpha to Omega network have purchased […]

"Cambridge-based IFA Group 300 is setting up a professional indemnity insurance scheme based in the Channel Islands. The captive scheme will be offered to 200 firms initially--Group 300 members and […]

Internet-based IFA Virtual Net has clinched a deal to buy IFA Eurosure Investment Services' 170 advisers. The acquisition will boost Virtual Net's membership to 320 RIs and comes after Eurosure […]

Investment trust managers remain cautious over the sustainability of the recent market rally. Association of Investment Trust Companies' statistics show that the UK growth and smaller companies sectors are up […]

The boom in IFA sales of non-regulated products will come to an end when regulation of protection and mortgages comes into force next year, Clerical Medical has warned. Head of […]

Midlands-based Lifeboat Financial Group is bringing its four divisions into one single adviser division and will license its advisers by product area. The group is amalgamating the four divisions into […]

Former RJ Temple clients sold structured products by the collapsed national IFA are set to suffer heavy losses over the next four months as the products mature, according to documents […]

Graham Coxell the man behind Marlborough Stirling's deal with IFA portal The Exchange, has quietly walked away from the group. Former chief executive Coxell left after nine years with the […]

The cost of professional indemnity insurance for IFAs has peaked, with the tide starting to turn for practices still struggling to afford cover, according to Sofa. Managing director Brian Lawless […]