FTAdviser Podcast

Will the FCA's proposals fix the Financial Services Compensation Scheme levy?

August 06, 2021 10:00 - 25 minutes - 23.7 MB

Last month the Financial Conduct Authority published its business plan for 2021-22, setting out how it plans to adapt itself to the "profound forces transforming the entire landscape of financial services". But what does this mean for financial advisers? The FCA has said it will be conducting a review into the scope and coverage of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Will this bring about the reform that advisers want? And what impact will the tougher approach on authorisations have...

Lenders stand firm despite govt's 'change of heart' on cladding

July 30, 2021 09:27 - 31 minutes - 29 MB

Last week the government announced a U-turn in its cladding guidance. It said leaseholders living in buildings under 18 metres tall would no longer need external wall application (EWS1) forms. Many leaseholders have found themselves “stuck” in properties deemed undesirable by lenders due to the risk of huge cladding removal bills - some estimated at as much as £70,000 - hanging over them. Now, high street lenders HSBC, Barclays, and Lloyds Banking Group have committed to reviewing their pra...

How to use pensions for intergenerational planning

July 26, 2021 10:00 - 26 minutes - 23.9 MB

Over the next few decades it is estimated that trillions of pounds will pass from one generation to the next: primarily from baby-boomers, who have ridden the wave of rising asset prices to their millennial children, who haven't always been as lucky. But ever since the pension freedom reforms of 2015, the big worry many savers have had is how they can turn their pension savings into an income so they can enjoy themselves in retirement. So what role does the pension have in the intergenerat...

How M&G Wealth is using hybrid advice to grow

July 23, 2021 10:00 - 31 minutes - 29 MB

Many in the advice profession have debated the benefits of face-to-face versus digital advice for several years. But over the past 18 months, many advisers have been unable to offer face-to-face advice and many robo-advisers have retreated from the market after finding the market wasn't as big as they thought. So what does the future of advice look like? M&G Wealth, which is currently expanding into the advice market after launching last year, believes the answer is hybrid advice. But what ...

Why pension allowances put advisers on the backfoot

July 16, 2021 09:20 - 21 minutes - 19.3 MB

According to data published by the government, in 2018-19 there were more than 34,000 taxpayers who reported their pension contributions exceeded their annual allowance - with excess payments amounting to £817m. Savers also struggle to stick within the lifetime allowance with more than 7,000 people exceeded the allowance, incurring a tax charge. This week reporter Amy Austin examines why so many savers struggle to stay within their allowances and why the number of people exceeding them has...

The silver bullets of intergenerational planning

July 12, 2021 08:00 - 27 minutes - 38.1 MB

The Great Wealth Transfer is about to begin in earnest, where a predicted £5.5trn is set to pass from older to younger generations over the next couple of decades. While this may well bypass the so-called 'squeezed middle' - or Generation X - the financial services industry is well aware of the need to help all generations understand the value of money. But what we are also starting to see is the importance to advisory firms of getting more young people into good savings habits, and reachin...

Capital gains tax reform & tax year changes: FTAdviser talks to the Office of Tax Simplification

July 09, 2021 10:00 - 21 minutes - 30.1 MB

Over the course of the past 18 months, the government has spent a lot of money to get the UK through the Covid-19 pandemic. But Rishi Sunak, the chancellor of the Exchequer, has made repeatedly clear that the bills we have racked up during this period will soon be coming due. This puts into sharper relief the debates around tax which have been rumbling on in the background for several years. Reforms to capital gains tax, inheritance tax and pensions tax relief are often discussed, but might...

Where next for ESG?

July 07, 2021 10:00 - 36 minutes - 50.4 MB

The year 2020 was a landmark one in lots of ways, including for ESG investing - if for no other reason than it finally put to bed the idea that you need to choose between investing ethically and investing for performance. But where next for ESG? In this podcast, sponsored by BMO Global Asset Management, FTAdviser digital editor Damian Fantato takes a look at what the future might hold for these mandates. He is joined by Keith Balmer and Simon Holmes, portfolio managers at BMO, and David Mac...

Will private equity change platforms?

July 02, 2021 09:49 - 38 minutes - 52.4 MB

Private equity interest in adviser platforms has continued to grow over the past year or so. Recently Novia, James Hay and Parmenion have all been bought by private equity firms and according to analysis by the Lang Cat, the proportion of platform assets owned by private equity has gone up from 2 per cent in 2016 to 15 per cent in 2021. Meanwhile life companies, which have traditionally owned platforms, have fallen from 55 per cent to 17 per cent over the same time period. So what does thi...

Talking Point: Finding value in sustainable portfolios

June 30, 2021 09:47 - 39 minutes - 54.9 MB

The steep rise in popularity of sustainable investment solutions has led to a similar rise in valuations in many of the qualifying asset classes. On top of this many of the companies which address environmental or social problems tend to be technology businesses - which are more attractive for their growth characteristics rather than for their value. In this special episode of the FTAdviser Podcast, sponsored by Schroders, special projects editor David Thorpe talks to a panel of experts ab...

Pensions: desperately seeking solutions

June 28, 2021 08:00 - 27 minutes - 37.7 MB

The self-employed - and particularly younger gig economy workers - desperately need some solid pension solutions to help them make long-term provision for their retirement. Joining Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor for FTAdviser, are some of the pensions world’s great and good: Jamie Jenkins, director of policy and external affairs for Royal London; Jonathan Greer, head of retirement policy at Quilter; and Nigel Peaple, Director of Policy & Advocacy for the Pension and Lifetime Savings Assoc...

Joining the advice profession during a pandemic

June 25, 2021 10:00 - 37 minutes - 51.5 MB

Finding new clients at any time in a financial adviser’s working life can be a challenge, but imagine having to do that at the beginning of your career, at the start of the lockdown last year. This week, deputy features editor Ima Jackson-Obot talks to Emma Prince, an adviser at Quilter Financial Advisers, who previously worked in banking, and James Wallace from David James Wealth, a former pensions lawyer, about their first year as financial advisers - which happened to coincide with a glo...

Keith Richards on his time at the PFS and what comes next

June 18, 2021 09:48 - 23 minutes - 21.2 MB

This week the FTAdviser Podcast speaks to Keith Richards, the chief executive of the Personal Finance Society, who will be standing down at the end of this month after nearly nine years in the role. During this time he was involved in the Financial Advice Market Review process, he established the PFS's pro-bono advice schemes and helped set up the European Financial Planning Association. He joins FTAdviser digital editor Damian Fantato to discuss his time at the PFS and what comes next for...

Why advisers are looking to ITs for income

June 14, 2021 08:00 - 34 minutes - 31.7 MB

This FTAdviser In Focus podcast aims to do two things: to look at the reason why investment trusts have proved to be good income plays for pension investors, and to understand why the investment trust universe can provide sustainable long-term returns. Joining Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor of FTAdviser, on this podcast is Annabel Brodie-Smith, communications director for the Association of Investment Companies; Tim Morris, financial adviser at Russell & Co; and Simon Clements, manager of...

Do pension reform proposals go far enough to help savers?

June 11, 2021 10:03 - 20 minutes - 18.5 MB

The government is looking to make it mandatory for providers to issue simpler statements for certain defined contribution pension schemes used as part of auto-enrolment. But as the proposals stop short of making providers include costs and charges, there still remains disparity across the industry. This week reporter Amy Austin is joined by Claire Trott, head of pensions strategy at St James’s Place, and Jessica List, pensions technical manager at Curtis Banks, to discuss the impact of th...

Your property is not your pension. Or is it?

June 07, 2021 08:00 - 34 minutes - 31.3 MB

Property investment - be it buy-to-let or commercial property funds - has had a rough time over the past few years. Questions over the liquidity not just of pure bricks and mortar but also issues with daily dealing property unit trusts have caused a lot of concern to investors. There have been fund suspensions following the Brexit vote in 2016 and then again in 2020 as Covid bit into market valuations. And there has been so much tax twiddling that buy-to-let as an investment has become unat...

How the FCA's new duty of care might affect advisers

June 04, 2021 10:00 - 19 minutes - 17.7 MB

The Financial Conduct Authority has published proposals for what it calls a "new consumer duty" which it says will set clearer and higher expectations for firms' standards of care towards consumers. The regulator has said it is concerned about firms providing information which is misleading or difficult to understand, and products or services which don't represent value. It says it wants firms to ask themselves 'would I be happy if I were treated like this?' or 'would I recommend this servi...

Rectifying Redress for Transfer Victims

June 01, 2021 08:00 - 34 minutes - 32 MB

Victims of defined benefit transfer misadvice are facing a double whammy when it comes to compensation calculations. According to campaigners supporting those who have been found by the regulators and compensatory bodies to have been wrongly advised to transfer out, not only do they face wildly differing levels of compensation, depending on when the calculations are carried out, but they also have to bear all the investment risk themselves. This FTAdviser In Focus podcast looks at why the ...

Will the FCA's plans to fix open-ended property funds work?

May 28, 2021 10:00 - 27 minutes - 24.9 MB

Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, famously said open-ended funds which invest in illiquid assets are "built on a lie". This has been particularly evident with property funds, which have been forced to open and close themselves to redemptions repeatedly over the past few years, first in response to Brexit and then because of the coronavirus pandemic. To fix this this the Financial Conduct Authority has proposed a new type of fund: the long-term asset fund, which have "...

How Biden's presidency is affecting global markets

May 21, 2021 10:00 - 25 minutes - 23.3 MB

Joe Biden has now marked more than 100 days of his term as President of the United States. While he has been a lot quieter on Twitter than his predecessor, that is not for a lack of activity. President Biden has signed a $1.9tn stimulus package, put together a $2tn package of infrastructure spending and unveiled a $1.8tn package of reforms on issues such as healthcare and labour laws. By common consensus, Biden is governing more radically than he campaigned. So what does this mean for inve...

How advisers can make the most of data

May 14, 2021 10:00 - 24 minutes - 22.4 MB

One of the clichés of the 21st century is to say data is the new oil but, like a lot of clichés, there's a kernel of truth in there struggling to come out. Indeed companies like Facebook have turned data into an awful lot of money and an awful lot of controversy. But what does this mean for advisers? How can they put the data they hold to good use to improve the service they offer? And what are the pitfalls? This week FTAdviser digital editor Damian Fantato is joined by Nick Eatock, chief ...

What's the future for income investing?

May 07, 2021 10:00 - 23 minutes - 21.1 MB

Exceptionally low interest rates, a high level of economic uncertainty and elevated valuations across multiple asset classes have combined with the Covid-19 pandemic to make this a tricky time for all investors, but particularly for those looking for an income. Many companies cut their dividends as they faced the uncertainty of the pandemic, with Shell cutting its dividend for the first time since the Second World War. Overall, UK dividends fell by 54 per cent between April and June. This ...

What next for the pension advice allowance?

April 30, 2021 10:00 - 17 minutes - 15.9 MB

The government has said it will be reviewing the pension advice allowance - which was introduced following the Financial Advice Market Review to help close the advice gap - after most major providers said they either didn't offer it or saw little or no interest. Pensions minister Guy Opperman has admitted the allowance, currently set at £1,500 over three years, was "too low to get an efficacious outcome" and said he was now working with HM Treasury to see if it could be improved. This week...

Making sense of IR35

April 27, 2021 15:09 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MB

Millions of Britons are being affected by "ill-thought-out rules, which have come into force for the private sector. Whether these are freelancers, concerned about how the rule might be assessed, or businesses worried about how they assess the tax status of every freelance contractor they hire, IR35 has posed problems for both advisers and their clients. Joining Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor of FTAdviser, to talk about what the new rules mean for contractors, clients and for advice firm...

Should the FCA scrap the 10% drop rule?

April 23, 2021 09:36 - 21 minutes - 19.4 MB

Earlier this year the Financial Conduct Authority announced plans to review the controversial 10 per cent drop rule, which was introduced by Mifid II in 2018 and means clients must be informed when their portfolios drop by 10 per cent or more. The rule has been suspended since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic due to increased market volatility, a suspension which the FCA has said will continue until the end of 2021. But now the UK has left the European Union, what should the FCA do a...

FAMR five years on - can the advice gap be closed?

April 16, 2021 10:00 - 31 minutes - 28.7 MB

Last month marked five years since the final report of the Financial Advice Market Review was published. The review was commissioned by HM Treasury to find measures to close the advice gap and enable the development of affordable and accessible financial advice - but in the five years since not much has changed and by some measures the advice gap has actually grown. And earlier this year the government was forced to admit one of the measures introduced following the review - the pensions ad...

Why UK tax policy on pensions is not working

April 13, 2021 08:00 - 34 minutes - 31.9 MB

Pensions taxation in the UK has been tinkered around with for years. Over the decades, different laws have shaped pensions legislation, making what should be a simple concept – helping people to save more for their retirement – extremely complicated. With this in mind, Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor of FTAdviser, spoke with three industry specialists to ask them to think the unthinkable about pensions. If they were chancellor, what changes would they make and why? Joining FTAdviser In Foc...

Can the protection gap for Generation Rent be closed?

April 09, 2021 10:00 - 36 minutes - 33.3 MB

Since 2007, the number of private-rented households has grown by 60% as house prices have soared but incomes stagnated following the financial crisis. This growing cohort of renters has become known as 'Generation Rent', but what does this mean for the protection market? Homeowners across the UK are already underprotected and renters even more so, but since protection is traditionally sold at the point of a house purchase, what does the decline of home-ownership mean for consumers, brokers...

Tax day: The difficult second album

April 01, 2021 10:00 - 26 minutes - 24.4 MB

Last week HM Treasury published a raft of consultations into tax policy, in a follow-up to the Budget which was branded 'tax day'. But like many sequels, it didn't quite live up to the hype. While some were anticipating changes to inheritance tax and capital gains tax - and there were even rumours of significant reform to pensions tax relief - in reality most of the Treasury's proposals were administrative in nature. This week FTAdviser's digital editor Damian Fantato is joined by Claire T...

FTAdviser talks to the pensions minister

March 26, 2021 11:00 - 22 minutes - 20.7 MB

The role of pensions minister tends to change hands regularly but since his appointment in 2017 Guy Opperman has become the second-longest serving person in that position - second to Sir Steve Webb. Earlier this year he guided the Pensions Act into law, which included long-awaited rules around pension dashboards, collective defined contribution schemes, and new powers for The Pensions Regulator. This week FTAdviser's pensions reporter Amy Austin has a chat with Opperman about the plans to ...

Talking Point: The outlook for UK companies

March 24, 2021 09:14 - 28 minutes - 25.8 MB

The past few years have been a turbulent one for British companies, with the Brexit negotiations followed by coronavirus lockdowns. And the UK is often caricatured as home to big financial services or commodities companies - many of which face structural challenges - but not to tech start-ups. But what opportunities are there in the UK? In this special edition of the FTAdviser Podcast, sponsored by Schroders, FTAdviser digital editor Damian Fantato examines what the outlook is for UK listed...

In Focus: Is inheritance tax 'outdated'?

March 22, 2021 11:00 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MB

Inheritance tax is being lined up for a long-overdue overhaul, following recommendations by the Office for Tax Simplification. Wryly described as a ‘voluntary tax’, the limits have barely been touched for over a decade, while only minor tinkering around residential nil rate bands has been part of Budget announcements in recent years. But all this is about to change - and advisers whose clients may get caught up in the increasingly complicated web of IHT planning will need to know various w...

A year of coronavirus: what have advisers learnt?

March 19, 2021 11:00 - 41 minutes - 38.5 MB

Exactly a year ago, prime minister Boris Johnson began placing the UK into lockdown, closing pubs, cafes and restaurants as the coronavirus pandemic took hold. A few days later he would tell the UK population to stay at home. A year on from these dramatic events, many advisers have changed the way they run their businesses and meet their clients. On this week's podcast, FTAdviser digital editor Damian Fantato talks to three firms of different sizes about how they have coped and what they ha...

Has Rishi Sunak done enough to help 'generation rent'?

March 12, 2021 13:28 - 23 minutes - 21.2 MB

Last week chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak announced an extension to the stamp duty holiday and a government guarantee scheme to encourage lenders to start offering high loan-to-value mortgages again, after the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic. This week Damian Fantato, digital editor of FTAdviser, is joined by Danny Belton, head of lender relationships at Legal & General Mortgage Club, and David Hollingworth, associate director at L&C Mortgages, to discuss whether this is enough ...

Next Act: The complexity of retirement

March 10, 2021 11:00 - 33 minutes - 30.3 MB

The events of the past 12 months have made many previously mundane things, such as going to the supermarket, more complicated. One thing that was already fairly complex but has been made more complicated is transitioning into retirement. From volatile investment markets to the changing employment opportunities for semi-retirees and the potential for having to support younger members of the family - many things have changed over the course of 2020. In this special edition of the FTAdviser ...

Budget 2021: The big freeze?

March 05, 2021 11:00 - 24 minutes - 22.2 MB

This week chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak his second Budget as the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine across the UK gives hope of a return to some degree of normality over the summer. Despite unveiling plenty of schemes to demonstrate how much he was investing in the UK economy, Sunak made clear that the bills racked up during the pandemic would soon be coming due. This meant several revenue-raising initiatives were announces, including an increase in corporation tax, frozen thresh...

Talking Tax

March 01, 2021 05:00 - 22 minutes - 21.1 MB

As we approach the end of the tax year, clients inevitably kick-start their tax planning. Perhaps we’d wish them to do this earlier, but let’s face it, tax isn’t the easiest thing for most people to grapple with as a concept. This FTAdviser in Focus podcast explores why tax can be so tricky to tackle. The panel talks to Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor for FTAdviser, about the language of tax reliefs, duties and allowances, and why education needs to start earlier. The panel also discusses ...

Has Covid-19 killed off property's role in portfolios?

February 26, 2021 11:15 - 31 minutes - 29 MB

Over the past year working from home as gone from being a niche lifestyle, to something workers up and down the UK are doing every day. Offices across the UK are empty, along with bars, restaurants and other hospitality premises. And on top of this many are shopping from the comfort of their own sofas. But what does this mean for investors in commercial property and for those using it as a diversifier in a portfolio? This week FTAdviser special projects editor David Thorpe discusses this is...

Rooting out the rogues

February 22, 2021 08:37 - 32 minutes - 29.5 MB

FTAdviser In Focus has been looking at all aspects of vulnerability, and one of the biggest ways in which vulnerability has been made manifest is in the rise of scam activity during the Covid-19 pandemic. Across social media, rogue lead generation adverts have popped up, often making outlandish claims about premiums. Meanwhile, calls from outright scammers – as well as lead generators – have targeted people in their homes, claiming to be getting them a better deal on their life insurance. ...

What advisers can learn from Gamestop

February 19, 2021 11:00 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MB

There are many changes caused by the coronavirus crisis that were perhaps predictable at the start of the pandemic — a shift to working from home, a rise in home gym sales and far too many banana breads being baked. But one that was perhaps less easy to forecast was the rise in DIY investing and day trading. Retail platforms have experienced a huge wave of new clients, equity trades have more than doubled, and the recent Gamestop battle between amateur investors and hedge funds caused a tra...

What it takes to stay in the DB transfer market

February 12, 2021 11:00 - 23 minutes - 21.5 MB

The market for providing advice on defined benefit transfers has shrunk by 46% over the past few years, as insurance costs and regulatory changes take their toll - and there are concerns this will be exacerbated by the contingent charging ban, which came into effect in October 2020. So what does it take for a financial advice firm to continue to provide financial advice? This week, reporter Amy Austin talks to two advisers who have remained in the market: Alistair Cunningham of Wingate Fina...

Vulnerability: Taking stock of investment risk post-Covid

February 09, 2021 09:59 - 36 minutes - 33.3 MB

The Financial Conduct Authority is keen to make sure financial services companies are treating customers fairly and paying mind to whether the client is potentially vulnerable. But has Covid made us all fall into this category at some level? This is not just relevant at the time of the initial consultation but also ongoing – are our investments that we chose three years ago still suitable? Are they going to be suitable in three or five or even seven years' time? How does one best assess inv...

Launching an advice firm during a pandemic

February 05, 2021 11:00 - 26 minutes - 24.6 MB

Attempting to launch a new financial advice firm is tricky at the best of times, but doing it during a global pandemic - amid lockdowns and social distancing - might be another level of challenge. And that's before you take into account the economic uncertainty which 2020 saw. But this week on the FTAdviser Podcast, reporter Rachel Mortimer talks to two advisers who did just that. Joining her to discuss how they launched their firms during 2020 are Alister Gaines, a chartered financial plan...

Why is the FCA unhappy about advice fees?

January 29, 2021 11:00 - 34 minutes - 31.8 MB

Last month the Financial Conduct Authority published its review of the financial advice market post-RDR and FAMR, in which it raised concern about the lack of competitive pressure advisers face, as well as "significant" clustering of fees which, the regulator said, suggested the advice market was not "well-functioning". This week FTAdviser's digital editor Damian Fantato is joined by Tim Fassam, director of government relations and policy at adviser trade body Pimfa, and Alasdair Walker, a ...

Should advisers expect more inflation in 2021?

January 22, 2021 11:00 - 39 minutes - 35.9 MB

One of the side effects of the coronavirus pandemic, and the lockdowns which have been introduced to curb the spread of the virus, has been low inflation. During 2020 inflation reached its lowest point for five years and since April 2020 it has only once gone above 1 per cent. But as vaccines are rolled out and the prospect of a return to normality looms larger, what can advisers expect during 2021? FTAdviser special projects editor David Thorpe talks to Phil Smeaton, chief investment office...

Helping clients get into the savings habit

January 15, 2021 11:00 - 34 minutes - 47 MB

A lack of good financial education has often been cited as the reason for people's financial ill-preparedness. So, in 2021, how can advisers encourage their clients - and their client's young children - to form good money habits? Furthermore, if education about managing one's finances begins at school or even younger, what sort of helpful tips might advisers share with clients to help them get their own children off to a flying start? Speaking to Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor for FTAdvi...

What 2021 has in store for advisers

January 08, 2021 11:00 - 22 minutes - 31.1 MB

In the first episode of 2021, FTAdviser digital editor Damian Fantato is joined by reporters Imogen Tew, Rachel Mortimer, Chloe Cheung and Amy Austin to discuss what the upcoming year might have in store for financial advisers. First Damian and Imogen discuss property funds and the impact the Financial Conduct Authority's new rules might have, as well as continuing M&A activity in the platform space and an outlook for the year ahead. Then Rachel considers whether the coronavirus pandemic h...

What advisers can learn from 2020

December 18, 2020 11:00 - 34 minutes - 46.9 MB

Few people will look back fondly on 2020, but amid the panic and the pandemic there were many important lessons - both personal and financial. Joining Simoney Kyriakou, editor of Financial Adviser, on the final FTAdviser Podcast of 2020 are four panellists from a cross-section of the financial services industry: pensions, protection, mortgages and investments. They talk about the way in which their sectors have reacted to and met the challenges of 2020, and what lessons consumers and marke...

What fund management M&A means for advisers

December 11, 2020 11:00 - 34 minutes - 47.9 MB

There has been a raft of mergers and acquisitions in the asset management and platform space as waves of consolidation continue to grip both markets. In the asset management sector, major names like Jupiter and Merian have come together, while adviser platforms continue to be snapped up by big asset managers and private equity firms alike. Both industries are experiencing a downward pressure on fees and many firms within the market have seen a difficult year as assets under management tumb...

What made great service in 2020

December 09, 2020 11:00 - 33 minutes - 46.4 MB

Providing first-class service to clients has been a challenge during 2020 as the pandemic unfolded - but that doesn't mean it has been impossible. Technology and communication were two of the most crucial elements to ensuring top-class client and adviser service, according to the panellists taking part in the Financial Adviser Service Awards 2020 podcast - which is sponsored by More2life. Simoney Kyriakou, editor of Financial Adviser, was joined by Stuart Wilson, corporate marketing direct...

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