Advisers have been warned to be "very careful" when recommending stamp duty land tax avoidance (SDLT) schemes as some unscrupulous vendors downplay the risks of an HMRC investigation into the activity.

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is heavily scrutinising client engagement letters for evidence of tax evasion, a leading tax lawyer has warned advisers.

Five years ago, Andrew*, a company director at an IFA business, witnessed wrongdoing in his industry and wanted to stop it. But when he tried, the reaction he received from life companies and the FSA shocked him...

Estimates of the number of advisers set to leave the industry due to RDR have been two-a-penny in recent years. But the FSA's latest figures have raised a few eyebrows...

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has proposed rules to bring the protection of policyholders with unit-linked and index-linked life insurance products in line with new European legislation.

The Financial Ombudsman has defended its hiring and training process after a 25-year-old law graduate with no financial services experience was found to have become an adjudicator after just a month's training.

The planned investor-led judicial review into an Arch Cru compensation package will run separately to an action backed by IFAs, after concerns the adviser group has a conflict of interest with investors and insufficient funds to fight the case.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined a Dubai based private investor $9.62m (£6m) for manipulating the closing price of securities on the London Stock Exchange, in the largest fine imposed by the FSA on an individual.

Friends Life Group said it is investigating drop-offs in persistency for some products ahead of the RDR despite a rise in sales of 24% in the nine months to September.

Friends Life has today announced the creation of Friends Life Investments (FLI), a new inhouse asset management business which will launch in the second half of 2012.