News

Pensions firm Barnett Waddingham has bought Harsant Services' 2,700-strong self-invested personal pension (SIPP) book for an undisclosed sum.

A simplified advice proposition its founder says is exhaustive enough to eliminate the need for face-to-face communication will charge clients about 1%.

The Bank of England will hold off on hiking rates for six months if it does not act by November - leaving a "clear run" for investors until the general election, Richard Buxton has predicted.

Scotland voting yes to independence from the rest of the UK would be a "disaster" Novia chief executive - and Scot - Bill Vasilieff has said, less than a month before the referendum.

Some 97% of the £943m in fines collected by the financial regulator between 2010 and 2013 came from settlements, according to research from law firm Freshfields.

Membership of the Personal Finance Society (PFS) has reached more than 35,000, with more than 1,000 people joining in the past year.

Accountancy and advisory group Price Bailey could receive up to £1.2m from the sale of its £150m financial planning arm to IFA acquirer Bellpenny last year, though the final sum is expected to be marginally less.

National IFA Fairstone Financial Management - formerly Moneygate Financial Services - has sought the help of paraplanning outfit Para-Sols to build a bespoke support service for its advisers.

Skandia has handed a £640m life mandate currently run by Invesco Perpetual's Mark Barnett to Neil Woodford, in a move Hargreaves Lansdown analysts suggest may be the first of many.

Discretionary fund manager Thomas Miller Investment extended its losses by almost £200,000 last year after investing in the business.