Opinion

I imagine most IFAs are pretty confused at the moment about how the new conduct of business rules will actually affect their businesses.

I've spent what seems like most of the last month at a variety of industry conferences. I've met a huge range of IFAs across the UK, Europe, India, Australia, Singapore and China - each with their own priorities.

So, four weeks on, what's changed? To pick out two of the biggest news items is a bit tricky as there seems to have been a lot going on. On that basis I'll grab the two things that tickled me the most.

It's shaping up to be an autumn crammed full of government announcements on pensions reform, including personal accounts.

Life and pensions manufacturers and distributors are about to get the usual heads-up in the form of third quarter sales figures, but which this year comes with the added knowledge a booming stock market is making some types of sales all the more easier....

Here are a few oxymorons and contradictions for you:

Not every intermediary is convinced by the need to have a web presence of some kind. But at an internal conference yesterday - all about online development - I learned a couple of interesting things which have made me think again about the potential development...

Oh, for the good old days when inheritance tax planning (IHT) was little more than putting a bond into a trust and waiting for seven years for unlimited amounts to be free of IHT.

For once the government seems to have been pretty efficient and has crammed an assortment of interesting pension titbits into two documents with a combined total of just 150 pages.

I don't know about you, but techology was never my bag and, to be honest, at one time I went out of my way to avoid discussiong the subject.