News Archive

Following the announcement in September 2013 that Oakwood Global Finance LLP and Engage Credit Limited had been acquired by Australian lender, third party loan servicer and asset manager Pepper Group, the company is this week completing its integration by combining the Oakwood and Engage businesses and changing the name of the UK business to Pepper (UK) Limited...

More than 10 million tax returns were received by the 31 January filing deadline, beating last year’s total of 9...

Increasing investor interest in VCTs is resulting in the need for early action to avoid disappointment across the sector and Albion Ventures’ VCTs are no exception...

Compensation has begun to be paid by financial advisers to people who invested in the CF Arch cru Investment and Diversified funds (Arch cru) as a result of unsuitable advice...

International Data Protection Day (28th January) marked a major milestone for a new innovation from South Yorkshire based Gala Tent, which aims to protect customers from fraudulent telephone transactions...

A new study commissioned by Heartwood Investment Management (“Heartwood”) reveals that almost half (46%) of financial advisers believe Unitised Discretionary Fund Managers (UDFMs) will become increasingly popular among their clients over the next 12 months...

It is that time of year when our thoughts turn to tax. The reasons for this may be that for those who complete Self Assessment Tax Returns, which due to “fiscal drag” and the reduction in the higher rate threshold since 2009/10 continues to increase, the end of January deadline focuses the attention on this area and of course for everyone the tax year end looms on the horizon...

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Standard Bank PLC (Standard Bank) £7,640,400 for failings relating to its anti-money laundering (AML) policies and procedures over corporate customers connected to politically exposed persons (PEPs)...

More than half of institutional investors (56%) have increased their appetite for risk over the past quarter, according to the latest Risk Rotation Survey by ING Investment Management International (ING IM)...

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has published the list of 136 firms that did not have indemnity insurance in place by 1 October deadline and did not obtain new cover during the Extended Policy Period (EPP)...

The average price of English farmland rose by 11% to a record £6,882/acre in 2013, according to the latest results from the Knight Frank Farmland Index...

A new way for landlords to let their property has launched this month, providing an innovative alternative to the traditional lettings model...

This week marks the full launch of the Merseyside Innovation Awards for 2014 as the search for the most ingenious businesses and products in the region begins once more...

Bond markets have enjoyed a bull run over the past 30 years, largely supported by both falling interest rates and inflation and, since 2008, loose monetary policy...

Advisers working, or looking to work, in the later life market will now be able to join the new Later Life Academy (LLA), which has been launched to raise standards and provide business opportunities in sectors such as equity release, annuities and long-term care...

Paragon Mortgages, the specialist buy-to-let mortgage lender, has launched a range of lifetime tracker products along with refreshing the rest of its range of fixed and tracker buy-to-let mortgages...

The FCA is asking selected wealth firms to provide detailed information on business models, product ranges, and governance and controls as part of a thematic review on non-advised and simplified advice investment sales...

Franchise Development Services (FDS) has released figures showing a steep increase in the number of people looking to invest in a franchise opportunity...

Looking forward to 2014, Threadneedle Investments said it believed the year would be characterised by the move towards financial markets standing on their own feet again, as the global policy support that has been providing abundant liquidity to markets starts to be withdrawn...

With each New Year we all resolve to live a healthier lifestyle but as BlackRock’s Investor Pulse Survey reveals that only half of Brits (50%) feel in control of their financial future, should everyone sign up to a new savings regime, go on a spending diet and cut out the excess? Tony Stenning, BlackRock’s head of UK retail, said: “Just two in five Brits (39%) see funding a comfortable retirement as a priority and with less than half of the population actually saving for retirement (47%) people need to start dedicating as much time to overhauling their finances as they do to new diets and exercise...