Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Monday 18 March 2024. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
FCA to review how firms respond to vulnerable customers
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced plans to review what firms are doing to understand and respond to the needs of customers in vulnerable circumstances.
The review will look at firms’ understanding of consumer needs, the skills and capability of staff, product and service design, communications and customer service, and whether these support the fair treatment of vulnerable customers.
Iress sells UK mortgage software business to Bain Capital
Bain Capital Tech Opportunities has agreed to buy Iress’ UK mortgage software and originations (MSO) business and acquire a majority stake in home loan platform finova for an undisclosed sum.
Iress mortgage software connects lenders and brokers to allow sourcing and sales.
Cheltenham-based finova’s platform manages mortgage pricing, underwriting, application processing and loan servicing. The business is aimed at brokers, specialist and equity release lenders, as well as savings institutions.
Former Tees Wealth head launches investment management firm with P1
Former Tees Wealth investment head Kieran Follis has teamed up with P1 Investment Services to launch a boutique investment management firm.
Magellan Research and Investment (MRI) will offer a “highly focused” range of actively managed, risk-adjusted model portfolios designed for financial advisers and their clients.
Magellan model portfolios will be available on several advisory platforms as well as the P1 Platform and are backed by a seven-year performance track record with the same experienced investment team at the helm.
Quote Of The Day
We have an obligation to correct what has been most seriously wrong over the last 100 years – the persistence of high economic inequality
-Kristalina Georgieva, head of the IMF, makes the point that “lower income inequality can be associated with higher and more durable growth”
Stat Attack
Despite cost-of-living challenges, the latest HL Savings and Resilience Barometer shows that people are still managing to save – and this is even true of Millennials.
Over 50%
of 25–29-year-olds have rainy day savings.
Nearly 4%
percentage of annual income this same age bracket is putting aside for the future.
68%
of 40–44-year-olds are holding a sufficient emergency fund.
7%
percentage of annual income this equates to for the same age bracket.
Source: Hargreaves Lansdown
In Other News
Sunak faces economic misery similar to before 1997 Tory defeat (Bloomberg)
UK inflation expectations fall, easing pressure on Bank of England (Reuters)
Record 6.7m people in Britain are in financial difficulty, warns debt charity (The Guardian)
Kieran Follis has teamed up with P1 Investment Services (P1) to launch boutique investment management firm Magellan Research & Investment (MRI), offering a highly focused range of actively managed, risk-adjusted model portfolios designed for financial advisers and their clients.
Follis was previously a Divisional Director with Gerrard/Barclays Wealth and, most recently, Head of Investment Management at Tees Wealth in Bishop’s Stortford. He has 35 years of experience in the international and domestic investment market.
Magellan model portfolios will be available on several advisory platforms as well as the P1 Platform, and are backed by a seven-year performance track record with the same experienced investment team at the helm.
A discretionary managed portfolio investment service on a more individual, bespoke basis will also be offered.
MRI will operate under the P1 umbrella, using the firm’s regulatory, administrative and tech support framework, as well as its low-cost, digital-only investment platform.
Explaining the reasons for launching under P1’s umbrella, Follis says: “The Magellan ethos is ‘to make a difference’, with extremely high levels of client service and a total and absolute focus on investment performance at the forefront of everything we do.
“Having met with several platform providers in our build-out of Magellan, we found P1 to be head and shoulders above all of them. They share our vision of careful growth, and as close partners on our journey, stand beside us with the resources and skill we need to help us every step of the way.”
P1 chief executive James Priday adds: “Kieran bringing his business under the P1 umbrella is a natural fit for P1 and we’re excited to have Magellan Research & Investment onboard.
“P1 is always looking to work with innovative investment managers. We look to support them in the same way that we support advice firms; by letting them focus on the job by removing operational and administrative burden.
“Kieran understands the importance of embracing technology to reduce costs and provide better services to advisers and clients.”
Did You See?
“I have been both a stay-at-home mum and a working mum, and both are tough,” writes Emmelia Powell, a financial planner at Premier Wealth Solutions. “Through my career, I have seen the impact of motherhood in areas often overlooked.”
“Women who have taken time out of work will have missed out on pension contributions, National Insurance contributions (NICs), employee benefits such as private medical insurance, death in service, income protection and critical illness insurance, car allowances and childcare discounts.
“Just to add to their hardship, non-taxpayers (i.e. stay-at-home mums with no income) can only contribute £3,600 gross, or £2,880 net, per year into a pension and receive tax relief. Hardly inspiring, even if you did want to do something about later life saving.
“So, how can advisers help? The most important place to start is making clients aware of what is happening to their retirement prospects.”
Read the full article here.