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For the financial services industry, upheaval has become the norm, and IT leaders have been impacted more than most. The face of the industry has changed forever. Mobility has exploded [...]

This article focuses on the benefits and potential limitations of real estate and stock market investing. Topics discussed include location and timing of property purchase, tax benefits of investing in a home, and the wisdom of maintaining a diversified stock portfolio.

Issues surrounding the development and management of investment strategies should be examined by critical debate because discussion and challenge is a crucial form of risk management. Experts are human, often overconfident and vulnerable to following fashions. Investment experts not only need to be managers of knowledge, but also ignorance managers.

Distributed computing offers numerous potential benefits for growing business organizations. These include enhanced information accessibility, reduced paperwork, greater data accuracy and security and better decision making. However, as Texas Commerce Bank N.A. is discovering in the course of its shift from mainframe computing to client/server technology, distributed data involves numerous challenges. Experts' advice on effectively managing distributed computing systems are presented.

Social and environmental issues continue their upward march in importance to shareholders, comprising nearly half of all shareholder proposals filed this proxy season so far, according to proxy advisory firm [...]

Byline: Natalie Holt Financial Conduct Authority chief executive-designate Martin Wheatley says the rest of the financial services industry should learn from the way advisers build long-term relationships with their clients, [...]

Byline: Natalie Holt New Treasury financial secretary Greg Clark says one of the Financial Conduct Authority's priorities as a new regulator should be to promote competition through removing barriers to [...]

Fixed income presents a wealth of opportunities for investors, Fidelity International's fund manager selection team has claimed. The team has produced a select list, a shortlist of what Fidelity's fund [...]

Aifa has published a retail distribution review manifesto accusing the regulator of losing sight of its aim of building consumer trust and widening access to advice. It says that the […]

The Financial Services Consumer Panel has called for the FSA to publish information on firms' performance and take over regulation of consumer credit from the Office of Fair Trading. The […]

An atomised approach to regulation, with a number of industry regulators reporting to a college of supervisors, could prove beneficial, says the Association of Independent Financial Advisers. In its Future […]

The college savings industry has welcomed a regulatory ruling that lets 529 plan owners change their investment strategy twice a year, rather than once. But those in the business say [...]

MGIC Investment Corp. said it will still cover broker-sourced loans, but as of March 9 it will eliminate some other products from its menu, including cash-out refinancings. In a company [...]

In response to pending delivery fee hikes from the government-sponsored enterprises, some residential lenders are raising prices - especially on condominiums - before the GSE fee increases take effect, loan [...]

WASHINGTON - The financial services industry is backing a bill to permanently raise the deposit insurance limit to $250,000 per account, though it would deplete the Deposit Insurance Fund reserves [...]

The person-to-person mobile payment company Obopay Inc. says it can help banks attract deposits through social networking Web sites such as Facebook. The Redwood City, Calif., company introduced Tuesday a [...]

A coalition of mortgage lenders led by a former Fannie Mae official and two other industry veterans is considering lobbying elected officials and regulators to let Fannie, Freddie Mac, and [...]

Fair Isaac Corp. now says that FICO 08, the newest version of its FICO score, will be available early next year - a year later than originally scheduled. Careen Foster, [...]

Consolidation in the print industry must be driven by good business synergies, rather than the opportunity to buy firms that have gone into administration cheaply, according to an industry expert. [...]

A fledgling credit market that lets businesses trade accounts receivable has allied with the nation's largest provider of Uniform Commercial Code filings to help buyers perform due diligence and file [...]

The outcome of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) must be applied to the entire financial services market to avoid consumers being confused about the type of advice or service they [...]

People must bear in mind what exactly is meant by a write down, according to F&C manager Corporate writedowns will become write-ups within three years as most underlying assets remain [...]

In his first major initiative since becoming the head of Citigroup Inc.s alternative investment business, Edward Ned J. Kelly 3rd announced plans to shut down the fund business founded by [...]

Aifa says the Financial Ombudsman Service's annual review is a "clear endorsement" that customers are satisfied with IFAs. Complaints against IFAs fell from 11,327 to 4,924 in 2007/ 08, down […]

WASHINGTON -- Office of Thrift Supervision Director John Reich on Tuesday renewed his criticism of the Treasury Department's plan to restructure financial services regulation, and promised to deliver a counterproposal [...]

Aifa claims that if the Financial Ombudsman Service adopts Lord Hunt's recommendation for a Fosbook, it could turn into second-tier regulation. In his review of the FOS, Lord Hunt called […]

Hometrack claims the mortgage market has seen only a 3 per cent fall in remortgage volumes in the last year. The firm says a wide disparity in lenders' performance has […]

Helen Pow's recent profile of Shadow Financial Secretary Mark Hoban highlighted a worrying trend, whereby outside parties applaud the retail distribution review as a means of shaking up the industry […]

Jean Gibson, Hanley's community officer retires. Stefanie Ives Hanley Building Society has announced the retirement of its community officer, Jean Gibson. Ms Gibson has worked with the building society for [...]

St James's Place has recruited 100 independent financial advisers in the last year. The tied wealth management firm says former IFAs now make up around half of its total salesforce […]

Harbinger Capital Partners unwelcome slate of nominees for the board of Media General consists of media veterans, including a former Los Angeles Times reporter. The nominees's media experience stands in [...]

Pensions minister Mike O'Brien has thrown his weight behind the Association of Independent Financial Advisers' Manifesto for Advice. At the Parliamentary launch of the manifesto this week, O'Brien said it […]

Sam Shaw says there are concerns in the market that Standard's 1.375 per cent charge for its wealth management service will put off investors Standard Life set up discretionary investment […]

Origo is offering a new online agency registration service to allow advisers to set up trading relationships with multiple providers using a single electronic application. It says the Adviserwise Agency […]

Aegon and O&M Systems are running a series of free roadshows for advisers on treating with-profits customers fairly. Following an investigation into with-profits, the FSA released a briefing in May […]

Friends Provident International is offering an 80 per cent global growth protector fund. It says the fund aims to generate unlimited returns from a dynamically managed basket of equity assets […]

OPM Fund Management expects UK commercial property prices to benefit from foreign investment through sovereign wealth funds. SWFs are owned by governments and invest national savings in assets such as […]

Distribution in the retail markets should be put into two categories - advice or non-advice - to bring clarity into the market, according to Skandia. It added that general and [...]

Product design and risk management for variable annuities must not operate in isolation, according to Oliver Wyman. The firm said that risk management should start with the product design itself, [...]

Most clients do not want a financial plan for life but IFAs have a professional responsibility to encourage their clients to make lifelong financial plans, according to Aegon UK. Almost [...]

Aegon Scottish Equitable is running tests on an online simplified life insurance product with key distributors. The application form for the product, called Simply Life, asks nine straightforward questions and […]

Multi-tied Openwork suffered a loss of millions of pounds in 2006, hit by unexpectedly high costs of setting up a new IT system and an 'unfavourable product mix.' The 2650-strong [...]

The impending end of the bull market could provide opportunities for profit, as well as risks, according to Henderson's multi-manager team. In its latest newsletter the team says it believes [...]

Insight Investment has moved the absolute insight fettered fund of funds and its underlying funds from fortnightly to daily pricing. Absolute insight is a non-Ucits retail scheme that aims to […]