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The Morning Briefing: Advised investors less vulnerable and time to revive the longstop debate

Published

17 hours ago

September 19, 2024

The Morning Briefing: Phoenix Group scraps plans to sell protection business; advisers tweak processes

Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Thursday 19 September 2024. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.

Advised investors less vulnerable

Advised investors are less vulnerable compared with the whole population, according to Dynamic Planner, which found just 10% of advised investors had a vulnerability characteristic of a moderate to high level.

The tech business analysed the data of over 5,000 advised investors assessed for vulnerable characteristics within its psychometric financial wellbeing questionnaire.

It found significantly fewer advised clients are highly vulnerable according to their health, life events, resilience and capabilities although a similar proportion may be affected to some extent.

Time to revive the longstop debate

A quirk of the advice profession is that, when it comes to complaints, liability is effectively unlimited, says Amanda Newman Smith.

Other professions enjoy the certainty of the longstop that limits professional-negligence claims to 15 years from the date of the negligence or loss, regardless of when the problem is observed.

Quote Of The Day

While a positive move in the right direction, this reduction is likely the first of many moves to counteract the rolling recession in the US that has evolved since the Fed started tightening monetary policy and has been priced into both commodities and fixed income markets.

– Cathie Wood, chief investment officer of ARK Invest, comments on the on first FED US interest rate cut in four years

Stat Attack

Investors are urging the chancellor to deliver a budget that creates a culture of inclusive investment to drive growth for the UK economy.

It follows recent research from the Investment Association (IA) which found:

10%

Just 1 in 10 UK pension holders over 55 are confident they are saving enough into their pension to live comfortably in retirement.

23%

Only 1 in 5 people hold Stocks and Shares Isas.

43%

Two in five aren’t confident they would know how to open and place their money in one.

72%

Almost three quarters would feel confident opening and placing their money into a cash Isa.

Source: Investment Association

In Other News

GAM has announced a strategic alliance with Galena Asset Management, a specialist in commodity finance and a fully owned and regulated investment subsidiary of commodity trading and logistics firm Trafigura Group.

The alliance will give GAM’s clients access to the global commodity markets, benefiting from Galena’s expertise in metals, mining, energy, and renewables.

Commodities are a vital asset class for investors, offering resilience, diversification, inflation protection, and attractive returns in a changing world.

GAM has a long history of alternative investing and innovation, and this strategic alliance with Galena will further enhance the firm’s ability to deliver “superior solutions” to its clients.

The new GAM and Galena alliance will continue to enhance the GAM Alternatives product offering and has two main aspects: a global distribution agreement for Galena Funds and future product innovation.

SimplyBiz has announced more than 1,000 Defaqto Engage licences have been adopted by its member firms since an enhanced version of the financial planning system was added to its core membership package five months ago.

Engage brings together a range of previously standalone modules, from risk profiling and cashflow modelling to pension, product, and platform switching, into a single comprehensive package.

It forms part of SimplyBiz’s suite of market-leading technology solutions and designed to help advisers manage regulatory risk, increase efficiencies, and deliver better services to clients.

It is used by around 30% of UK advisers, and is powered by Defaqto’s data which covers more than 21,000 funds, platforms, DFM MPS, and products, with recommendations of £43bn going through the system annually.

Federal Reserve cuts rates by half a point and signals era of easing has begun (Financial Times)

HSBC cuts key Hong Kong rate for the first time since 2019 (Bloomberg)

Britain needs finance sector strategy to tap foreign billions, report says (Reuters)

Did You See?

Sesame Bankhall Group (SBG) has appointed Toni Smith to the newly created role of distribution director to lead its adviser network Sesame.

Smith, who has over 35 years’ experience in the intermediary sector, is tasked with growing the Sesame business, shaping and driving distribution, and further developing the network’s mortgage and protection propositions for members.

The appointment, subject to FCA approval, comes as SBG embarks on a programme of growth and modernisation to become the UK’s leading provider of services to advice firms.

Smith will take up her new role on 18 November and join SBG’s executive committee. She reports to chief executive Richard Harrison.

Ethereum is still home to the most active crypto developers and is the most attractive chain to build applications on top of for big companies, argues Bitwise’s Matt Hougan.

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