Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Wednesday 27 November 2024. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Regulation forcing advisers to offboard clients
The majority (72%) of advisers are ending relationships with more clients than usual, new research by NextWealth has found.
During 2024, 66% of advisers have identified clients they plan to part ways with and over half (58%) say their ‘offboarding’ is set to increase over the next 12 months.
NextWealth managing director Heather Hopkins said: “Advisers are grappling with the need to demonstrate fair value to clients who may have simple requirements, such as a small pension pot or ISA alongside their sense of obligation and loyalty.”
Scottish Widows Platform simplifies report writing
Scottish Widows Platform has integrated new suitability report writing software to simplify and centralise the process for advisers.
The integration with ATEB Suitability provides advisers with automated data transfer between third-party back office systems, reducing the need for manual data entry.
This update is the latest in a series of integrations undertaken by Scottish Widows Platform this year, with more planned for 2025.
How I broke into advice
Financial advice is a great choice for graduates who want to build a long-term career that brings job satisfaction and a decent salary.
But competition for trainee positions is fierce and it is difficult to get an employed adviser role if you haven’t worked your way up.
Here, three aspiring advisers share their stories of breaking into the profession.
Quote Of The Day
There is speculation that the bruising duties Donald Trump has outlined are his gauntlet thrown down to spark the start of negotiations rather than a considered policy map
– Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, gives her latest view
Stat Attack
Two in three Britons now believe that the UK’s economy is currently in a recession, according to a new survey of 1,000 UK adults by market research company Maru.
67%
of UK adults believe that the UK is in recession.
23%
This is compared to just 23% of respondents who are confident that the economy is not in recession.
0.2%
This is despite the UK’s real GDP having grown by 0.2% in the three months to August 2024.
68%
believe that wages are not keeping up with inflation. While historically accurate
66%
feel that consumer confidence is getting worse.
60%
think that the economy is worse than the media makes it out to be.
56%
of Britons believe the FTSE 100 has been down for the past year despite overall gains for the stock market.
51%
believe unemployment is reaching a 50-year high, despite unemployment in the UK actually being at a record low of 4% in October 2024.
50%
believe that inflation is increasing, even though it fell below the Bank of England’s 2% target to 1.7% in September 2024.
46%
think that interest rates are still increasing, despite the Bank of England cutting interest rates by 0.25% in November 2024.
Source: Maru
In Other News
Verve founder Cathi Harrison scooped the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Money Marketing Awards this year.
We asked her what the achievement meant to her.
“There’s a huge part of the industry that doesn’t yet know Verve Group,” she said.
“So this award is a really powerful way of getting us in front of people who might not have come across us before, and we can start to hopefully work with them.
“My tears on the night were symbolic of how much the whole thing meant. Haley’s presentation, which was just beautiful, talked about the fact that I am relentless in trying to improve what we do and trying to improve financial services.”
Harrison added: “In financial services, there’s not enough recognition of the good stuff that gets done.
“Because finance often has a very negative reputation outside of the industry, it’s more important than ever to keep shouting all the good stuff that people are doing, whether it’s a small initiative or a big piece.”
The full interview is here.
You can now register your interest for next year’s Money Marketing Awards here.
It’s a night you won’t want to miss!
Unicorn AIM VCT has announced its intention to launch a new offer for subscription to raise £20m through the issue of new ordinary shares.
The company’s previous £20m offer was the fastest to reach full subscription among all VCTs during the 2023/24 tax year, highlighting strong investor demand.
Unicorn Asset Management, one of the UK’s leading specialist investors, has managed the company’s investment portfolio since inception in 2001.
It is the largest AIM-focused VCT, with current net assets of £200m.
Unicorn invests in UK equities across a range of strategies – with a further £140m invested in AIM-listed companies outside of the VCT.
From Elsewhere
China’s market targets ‘just psychological’, says former regulator (Financial Times)
Australia’s top pension fund hires trio for London equities hub (Bloomberg)
Wall Street banks get a lift from trading Israeli currency, bonds (Reuters)
Did You See?
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has been labelled “incompetent at best, dishonest at worst” in a damning report by a cross-party group of MPs and Lords.
The report, compiled by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services, accuses the FCA of systemic failures, including regulatory inaction, cultural defects and inadequate handling of whistleblower evidence.
The 358-page report, based on testimony from 175 individuals — including whistleblowers, scam victims and current and former FCA employees — paints a troubling picture of the watchdog’s operations.
It criticises the FCA’s leadership as “opaque and unaccountable” and claims its actions have been “slow and inadequate” in addressing financial misconduct.
According to the APPG, recent efforts to reform the FCA have failed to resolve its deep-rooted problems.
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