Australia

The fundamental rule of commercial life is that life companies are the natural long term owners of distribution and financial planning businesses.

January is always a good time for planning and goal setting both on a business and personal level. On the latter, I feel I need to make a couple of key changes during 2007, mainly to focus on one thing at a time and see it through to a successful conclusion....

High net worth clients thinking about transferring pension funds when emigrating to Australia need to take action before the end of June, warns Standard Life.

The end of the year is a good time to sit back and reflect - and frankly there is not much to be cheery about.

I was out on the road last week chairing conferences on the development of the wrap and platform market, and learned some valuable lessons about the reality of the adviser business.

The international body managing standards of the certified financial planner is looking to implement a future regime based on competency skills.

There will be a new entrant into the wrap platform space later this year following the creation of a new business with IFA backing.

InfoComp, an Australian software provider has launched a UK version of its wrap and administration platform.

With-profits funds could see improved potential returns in the near future as Prudential says equities are now cheaper than the bonds sector.

Many industry experts believe the UK property market will be mirroring the Australian one as they share many similar traits, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors says.