Opinion

As "Poacher turned Gamekeeper" I would not put myself in the same house as Hector, but I was recently offered the rare treat (these days) of a day out of the office to visit a client of long standing, the opportunity presenting itself as a number of customer...

Hello, hello. It's good to be back. In case you were wondering that's a nod to the popular Manchester ensemble known as Oasis, who recently released a new album, as opposed to any other musical artists from the past that you may be thinking of.

Fund platforms are now an integral part of many advisers' day to day business. Their ability to bring the fund management industry onto advisers' desktops has proved to be a winning formula.

As summer comes to a close, holidays become a distant memory and the nights draw in, the months ahead could prove to be gloomy.

The damage done to investor confidence is so immense that no single action can turn them round and even if banking collapses are averted then we are still staring global recession in the face.

The results of a recent IFA survey by Bankhall showed that over a third of advisers did not use a recognised client management system.

Ronald Reagaon once said: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

I was fascinated to read an interview with Amanda Bowe recently, who it has been announced will be leaving the reins of RDR to the "policy makers" at the FSA next Month.

I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking what a crazy few weeks it's been! Some commentators have argued the recent rollercoaster ride in financial markets has been a long time coming, whilst others are busy speculating the end is in sight.

The obvious place to begin this blog is with the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Leaving aside the wider ramifications - I am not in a position to discuss those - the fall of Lehmans has done two things.