Regulation

Towry underestimated the strength of the relationship between seven former Edward Jones advisers and the clients it accused them of poaching.

Wealth manager Towry has agreed to pay the legal costs of rival Raymond James and seven advisers after defeat in the High Court.

East Anglia-based Saffron Building Society has transferred its financial planning subsidiary, Saffron Independent Financial Advisers to Towergate Financial.

Adviser group Tenet has said remaining independent will be near-compulsory for its members.

Offshore bond providers are shifting their new business focus away from jurisdictions such as the Isle of Man and towards European jurisdictions, Epoch Wealth Management has said.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published a guide to preparing for the retail distribution review (RDR), ten months before the reforms coming into place.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is set to deal with thousands of compensation claims related to the collapse of broker MF Global, with more expected.

The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) is to establish itself as an independent organisation after nine years as part of the Association of IFAs (AIFA).

An FSA promise to re-visit the absence of a time limit on complaints in financial services "seems to have slipped off the radar", according to MP Mark Garnier, who has pledged to take the regulator to task on the issue.

The FSA began its final round of RDR surgeries last week, less than a year before full roll-out of the new rules. But surprises continue to crop up. Alasdair Pal spoke to a few of the early attendees…