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Wealth manager Towry will accelerate its acquisition programme in 2014, with plans to buy as many as ten businesses, its head of wealth advice has said.

Support services provider SimplyBiz has launched an auto-enrolment (AE) tool to help its member firms deal with an anticipated influx of AE business.

Calls to the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) whistleblower hotline to report malpractice are continuing to rise, according to figures obtained by investigations firm Kroll.

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) plans to freeze the levy it collects from firms and cut its budget by 20% over the coming year.

National IFA firm Foster Denovo has appointed former Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) supervisor Jane McTigue as compliance and risk director.

Competition for financial adviser jobs is experiencing a surge according to independent advice group deVere, which has seen job applications double this January.

Industry stalwart Gareth Marr - one time chief executive of national IFA firm Origen - is leaving advice after a 30 year career due to ill health.

Treasury committee chairman Andrew Tyrie has called on the regulator to scrap the "fundamentally flawed" approved persons regime for advisers and instead align the sector with the new standards being brought in for the banking industry.

A Conservative MP has warned annuities could become the next financial services mis-selling scandal without an urgent and radical overhaul.

Government plans to increase spending on state pensions have been criticised as "unaffordable and irresponsible" in a report by a free market think tank.