• Home
  • Multi-Asset
  •  
    Retirement
    • Pensions
    • Income
    • Investment
    • Regulation
    • Estate planning
    • Equity release
  •  
    Your profession
    • Adviser tips
    • Business models
    • Companies
    • People
  • Regulation
  • Tax planning
  • Protection
  • Diversity
  • Events
  • Whitepapers
  • Industry blogs
  • EM and Asia spotlight
  • Newsletters
  • ESG spotlight
  • Sign in
  • Events
    • Upcoming events
      event logo
      Professional Adviser's Working Lunches in partnership with Orbis Investments - 2019

      Join us in March for the Professional Adviser Working Lunch series in partnership with Orbis Investments.

      • Date: 05 Mar 2019
      • Knutsford, Leeds, Surrey, Bristol
      event logo
      Professional Adviser Working Lunches 2019 - Baillie Gifford & First State Investments

      Professional Adviser is delighted to announce the launch of the new Working Lunches in partnership with Baillie Gifford and First State Investments. Travelling across the UK to provide valuable market insights for Senior Financial Advisers.

      • Date: 13 Mar 2019
      • Southhampton, Worcester, Durham, Norwich, Liverpool, Exeter, Sheffield, Leicester, Nottingham
      event logo
      Professional Adviser 360 2019

      The highly anticipated Professional Adviser 360 conference is taking place on 25th April 2019 at The Brewery in London.

      • Date: 25 Apr 2019
      • The Brewery Chiswell Street London EC1Y 4SD, London
      event logo
      Fund Manager of the Year Awards 2019

      The 2019 Fund Manager of the Year returns on Thursday 27th June 2019, Grosvenor House Hotel, London. Save the date.

      • Date: 27 Jun 2019
      • Grosvenor House Hotel 86-90 Park Lane Mayfair London W1K 7TN, London
      View all events
      Follow our events

      Sign up to receive email alerts about our events

      Sign up
  • Whitepapers
    • Find whitepapers
      Search by title or subject area
      View all whitepapers
  • Sign in
  •  
    •  

      Personalise your on site experience

      Download and use the apps

      Access your subscription from outside of the office

      Get relevant news and insight straight to your inbox

      Sign in
     
     
      • Newsletters
      • Account details
      • Contact support
      • Sign out
     
  • Follow us
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • Newsletters
    • YouTube
  • Register
  • Industry blogs
  • EM and Asia spotlight
  • ESG spotlight
Professional Adviser
Professional Adviser
  • Home
  • Multi-Asset
  • Retirement
  • Your profession
  • Regulation
  • Tax planning
  • Protection
  • Diversity
 
  •  

    Personalise your on site experience

    Download and use the apps

    Access your subscription from outside of the office

    Get relevant news and insight straight to your inbox

    Sign in
 
 
    • Newsletters
    • Account details
    • Contact support
    • Sign out
 
Professional Adviser
  • Your profession

No more rip-offs

david-ferguson-blog-60x80
  • David Ferguson's Talking Point
  • 08 January 2007
  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Google plus  
  • Send to  
0 Comments

I guess it's that time of year when one reflects on the past and casts an eye to the future. I'm going to dispense with the former and focus on the latter as it's much more the Nucleus way!! I don't know why these lists often run to seven entries but here goes:

1. At least one top five insurer will close to new business The current commission-fuelled crazy business model will start to shudder to a halt and at least one firm will come under increasing shareholder pressure to put up the closed sign. If I was a betting man my money would not be on L&G.

2. (True) wrap providers will have more than £6bn under management by next Christmas Given that the only true wrap provider with any serious money under management at present is Transact with c£3.2bn I think the market will almost double on the back of new entrants such as ourselves, Friends Provident and Standard Life – there has been talk for years of the wrap market finally kicking off but we are now definitely at the starting line.

3. Outrageous bid/offer spread and TER practices will be exposed and asset management groups will stop taking the high moral ground on pricing transparency We have been stunned by some of the charging practices in the asset management community and it really is time that the FSA got their heads around the lack of real disclosure by some groups. Fund managers have long taken a robust stance against life office charging opacity but I think time has now caught up with them. The first trade on the Nucleus wrap was into a fund with a declared spread of 5 per cent yet the true spread was just shy of 6.5 per cent. Remarkable!

4. SWIFT will be beginning to make inroads into EMX's market dominance - it's a whole lot better value after all Despite the new owners’ insistence that EMX’s pricing will become more reasonable it is currently a fact that messages on SWIFT cost about one hundredth of the price of messages on EMX so there is a long way for EMX to go. If the industry is to truly embrace electronic trading there has to be some serious tightening of belts.

5. The UK life industry will continue on a sales-led strategy that will perpetuate the recent spiral of value destruction They just can’t help themselves!!

6. Bancassurers will finally start to get it very right at the expense of low quality IFAs There is no doubt that the large banking organisations are heavily focused on re-engineering their bancassurance operations to try and leverage their client relationships across a broader product suite. This time having learnt all the lessons of the past they’ll get it right, even if that’s only as they have to.

7. Quality IFAs will increasingly seek to exercise greater control over their client proposition and will eschew the provider-led control-freakery of the past. The revolution has started and will gather pace throughout the months ahead.

David Ferguson is chief executive of Nucleus Financial.

The views expressed are those of the author and not those of the company he represents

IFAonline

Related articles

  • Sean Kulan: How prepared are solo-regulated firms for SM&CR?
  • Sarah French: Why advisers should consider Resolution accreditation
  • The Value Perspective: Warren Buffett's key tenets of value investing
  • Greg Davies: Should a change in market values mean a change in risk?
  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Google plus  
  • Send to  
  • Topics
  • Your profession
  • ferguson

More news

  • Regulation
Sean Kulan: How prepared are solo-regulated firms for SM&CR?

9 December 2019 deadline

  • 19 February 2019
Head of EMEA and Latin America at Neuberger Berman, Dik Van Lomwel
  • Investment
Neuberger Berman hires from Morgan Stanley IM for multi-asset role

Joe McDonnell joins as head of portfolio solutions (EMEA)

  • 19 February 2019
Sonia Wheeler & Zoe Lyons
  • Your profession
Why mentoring is key for advisers: 2018 WIFA Award winner Sonia Wheeler

Adviser of the Year - South East

  • 19 February 2019
James Bateman of Fidelity International
  • Managed solutions
Multi-asset insight: Video interview with James Bateman

Fidelity Multi Asset CIO's outlook

  • 19 February 2019
What happens to performance after a 'star' fund manager leaves?
  • Industry
What happens to performance after a 'star' fund manager leaves?

Willis Owen report

  • 19 February 2019
Back to Top

Most read

Three stones
The Value Perspective: Warren Buffett's key tenets of value investing
Pension scam report shines light on quality of advisers
Arbitration
Sarah French: Why advisers should consider Resolution accreditation
Managers warn quantitative tightening could see "large swathes" of BBB-rated bonds tumble into the high yield index
Asset allocators sell down credit holdings ahead of 'bond catastrophe'
L-R: Phil Horton, Rob Burnett, Luis Barreiro and Sumit Mittal
Rob Burnett unveils first fund from Lightman IM
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Marketing solutions
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy and Cookie policy
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • YouTube

© Incisive Business Media (IP) Limited, Published by Incisive Business Media Limited, New London House, 172 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5QR, registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 09177174 & 09178013

Digital publisher of the year
Digital publisher of the year 2010, 2013, 2016 & 2017