Popular News
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Exclusive - SIPP and SSAS Survey reveals confidence
The latest issue of Financial Planning Today magazine, our exclusive sister publication for Financial Planners, Paraplanners, Wealth Managers and IFAs, has been published and is ready to view.
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Hundreds face huge tax bill after cashing in pension
Almost 300 people fully encashed a pension of more than £250,000 after tax-free cash between October 2023 and March 2024, paying a minimum £98,700 each in tax in the process, according to new analysis of FCA figures by Standard Life.
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AMPS hears from HMRC at spring conference
The SIPP and SSAS trade body Association of Member-Directed Pension Schemes (AMPS) said it has made progress with liaison with regulators and demonstrated that by having representatives from HMRC at its annual spring conference.
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AJ Bell platform customers rise to nearly 600,000
Platform and SIPP provider AJ Bell increased its platform customer numbers by 9% to 593,000 over the past six months, the business reported today in interim results.
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Crisis-hit CII and PFS hold joint board meeting
The boards of the 120,000 member Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) and its subsidiary the Personal Finance Society (PFS) have held a joint meeting this week following the latest in a wave of resignations to hit the PFS.
Latest Blog
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James Jones-Tinsley: Aiming for an advice-guidance sweetspot
As Nikhil Rathi is reappointed as CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for another five years, the FCA has set out its strategic direction for 2025/26, with important implications for financial advisers.
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Lisa Webster: Over-taxation of pensions remains an issue
HMRC’s January pension schemes newsletter announced changes to tax codes for pensions, and a few headlines followed proclaiming HMRC had finally fixed the over-taxation issue. It would be fantastic if that was the case, but despite nearly 10 years of getting it wrong, the problem isn’t resolved yet.
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Lisa Webster: Divorce impact on lump sums raises question
The lifetime allowance may have been consigned to the annals of history but the various forms of protection are still relevant in the new world, especially when it comes to the amount of pension commencement lump sum (PCLS) that can be taken.
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Martin Tilley: How education can tackle pension scams
The dark reality of pension scams is that we don’t really know how common they are. Fraud is a crime which tends to have low reporting events and with pension scams, it’s no different. The emotional toll can be as large as the financial, with some people being too embarrassed to report that they have been the victim of a scam.
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Lisa Webster: Maximising protected tax-free cash
While 2024 ended with a lot of doom and gloom in the pension world following the big announcement on inheritance tax (IHT), there was some good news that may have slipped under the radar of some advisers.
Younger clients are demanding technological improvements from SIPP providers according to new research.
The Financial Ombudsman Service has reported a sharp rise in SIPP complaints with 821 new complaints about SIPPs between July and September compared to 636 in the previous quarter.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme has declared 45 firms in default between May and October including two signifcant SIPP providers and dozens of financial advice firms.
STM Group, the financial services and SIPP provider, has added £5m to its takeover war chest to fund further acquisitions.
The Competition and Markets Authority has ordered platform engine provider FNZ to sell rival and takeover target GBST over fears that millions of UK pension savers and investors could face worse service and higher prices.
In its final report, published today, the CMA found that the deal raises “significant competition concerns” in the supply of retail platform solutions to investment platforms in the UK.
FNZ and GBST are two of the leading suppliers in the sector, powering the majority of UK investment platforms.
The CMA found that if it went ahead the merged business would be by far the largest supplier in the platform ‘engine’ market, holding almost half of the UK market.
Martin Coleman, chair of the CMA inquiry group carrying out the investigation, said: “We have found that FNZ and GBST are two of the leading suppliers of retail investment platform solutions, and that they compete with each other closely and face few other suppliers of similar standing. The merger has substantially reduced competition in this sector.
“This matters to the millions of UK consumers who hold pensions or other investments. This is because competition plays a key role in driving price and quality. Without healthy competition, costs could go up and service quality could get worse.
“FNZ chose to complete its acquisition of GBST without first seeking merger clearance in the UK, which it is perfectly entitled to do. This came with the risk that the CMA could call the case in for investigation and that, if competition concerns were found, FNZ could be required to sell off all of the business it had just acquired.”
Following an in-depth investigation, a group of independent CMA panel members concluded that the loss of competition brought about by the deal could lead to investment platforms, and therefore UK consumers who rely on these platforms to administer their pensions and other investments, facing higher costs and lower quality services.
The CMA’s findings are based on the companies’ own tender data and internal documents, as well as information from customers, competitors and other stakeholders.
While the competition regulator found differences in the firms’ business models - with FNZ providing an integrated software and servicing solution and GBST a software-only provider - the CMA found that they compete closely and face few other significant suppliers at present.
The CMA found no basis to suggest that entry or expansion by other suppliers would mitigate the harm caused by the merger.
The CMA considered a number of remedies, including options put forward by FNZ but found that requiring FNZ to sell the entire GBST business was the only solution that will “properly address” the loss of competition resulting from the merger.
A spokesperson for FNZ said: "We note that the CMA has published its final views on FNZ's 2019 acquisition of Australian software company, GBST. We have no further comment at this stage."
Adviser platform Wealthtime says it may make it own acquisitions following the completion of its takeover by European private equity firm AnaCap Financial Partners.