Opinion

It's taken a while, but the mortgage industry has finally moved out of the inertia that was the result of the imposition of regulation. Now it is back to what it does best - designing and marketing the most innovative mortgage products in the world. But,...

Apparently more and more fund managers are thinking of striking out on their own, or with a select few colleagues, to set up boutique firms.

The activity level in pensions lobbying circles has recently edged up a notch or two. We received the White Paper on personal accounts just before Christmas, and now are turning our attention to drafting a response by the deadline of 20th March.

There is a myth perpetuated in financial services that ‘clients will not pay fees'. My experience is very different. Where it is possible to articulate value to a client they will of course pay fees for financial advice. I do concede that commission offsetting...

One recent Saturday morning, I picked up the Financial Times. This is not something I like doing on the weekend - not when I'm out of the office and The Sun's News In Briefs is on offer.

Just a couple of weeks ago was half-term and I had a splendid time with the kids. Of particular delight to the children was a visit to the local theme park, with an abundance of nausea-inducing rides followed by an over-sweetened candy floss chaser.

We are all aware of the fine of almost £1m to Nationwide for their lost laptop. This single laptop was stolen from an employee's house but it is reported that Nationwide failed to report the loss to the FSA.

Well, I don't know about you but I was utterly shocked to read that you, as advisers, don't add anything to a protection sale. No, you didn't misread that, according to recently published research from the Pru, buying protection through an adviser doesn't...

The frightening news suggesting more than 1.7 million people in the UK will have dementia by 2051 indicates advisers should be doing more to encourage their clients to take out long-term care insurance.

If it's Tuesday, then it must be Brussels. "Lifestyles of the rich and shameless," as one industry colleague said to me on hearing that I would be in the seat of European power the next day.