Industry news and views from Panacea and our partners.
Industry News_
Wizard Learning - December discount and the RDR
We are offering you a 5% discount this month to mark our achievement in becoming an award winning education website.
A bigger and better online resource, just when you need it!
Since Panacea launched last year we have been in constant touch with our IFA members and sponsors to find out what IFAs and Product Providers want to achieve together.
Jane's role
My name is Jane Sanders, I am a barrister in training and I left FOS in January 2008, after 16 months of life as a hallowed 'adjudicator'. All of you in financial services are no doubt more familiar with FOS's horror stories than I. Well, I thought the learning curve whilst at FOS was steep; whew! in the 9 months since being on the 'other side of the fence' I have been regaled with enough stories about client IFAs experiences on the receiving end of the FSA's regime to make my hair curl, and which would have seen lesser mortals running for the hills.
Resources Compliance - Retail Distribution Review: Feedback Published
The FSA has published its long awaited feedback statement (FS) following its review of retail distribution (the RDR). It is important to note that no detailed draft rules have been published, as a consultation paper containing these is not due to be published until June 2009.
After hating the 8 watch out for the malign 9
Beware of consensus it is often an excuse for complacency. However, when looking at 2009 there seems to be a growing consensus that its going to be a year of recession you may have hated the 8 but now prepare for the malign 9.
Some Chipped China?
We are by now quite used to those more descriptive Chinese expressions and terminology they often seem to come with references to wildlife and nature as well as a more Confucian style. Most recently though, this illustrative style seems to have been replaced with a more blatant and blunt language which reflects the more difficult economic situations that this nation is now facing.
Spend Spend Spend Please!
And so the cry goes up tax cuts give them the money and they will spend our way out of this recession. Oh the power of popular mantra. With all of the forward thinking of an excited Tigger on speed, the politicians of the world seem wide eyed with excitement in the hope that they have found the answer to economic alchemy and the end to our economic recession.
RDR Question Time LIVE today at 11am
Today at 11am, Asset.tv is hosting a live online Masterclass to tackle the big questions in RDR.
Blowing the Tanks
It feels a bit like the scene in that iconic German film Das Boot when the submarine commander orders all the tanks to be blown in a vain effort to try and stop the damaged U-boat from sinking.
If you go down to the Woods (Bretton) today ......
This week the meeting of the G20 in Washington on the 15th has the opportunity to be an extremely important event. Although some have tagged it as the opportunity to create a new Bretton Woods international agreement for a new financial world order, the reality is going to be considerably less but nonetheless the meeting is still going to be vital. As we fumble our way through this financial fiasco, at least our leaders have realised just how internationally linked and inter-dependent we all are. Thus a meeting of the 20 including the likes of China, India and Russia, is far more realistic than the older cosy club of post WW2 capitalists.
Twenty five years ago
Twenty five years ago, if any financial services firm had been asked whether they foresaw regulation as being a positive thing, I think we can all assume that the answer would have been a resounding no.
Third Way Plans - free adviser guide
In response to requests from Advisers for more information on Third Way plans we have produced a guide to Retirement Income Options and this is available free to all UK Advisers.
Who Needs Gunpowder?
In 1605 Guy Fawkes wanted to destroy most of the English establishment and its parliament along with its new Scottish King, James VI, with some good old fashioned gunpowder. Several centuries later Mr Fawkes should have been an investment banker because he could potentially have achieved the same (apart from the Regicide) without the need of a flickering taper in a dark cellar but rather just with the sale of a toxic bond or two. In comparison gunpowder seems rather tame when watching fireworks explode this week try not to make too many comparisons with the global economy.
What has been learned since the 2005 CPS Review?
The Financial Services Authority, which came into formal existence in 2001, is one of the most powerful, and one of the least accountable, institutions created in the UK since the war.
Wizard journey soon to visit online awards
Thanks to all the Wizard Learning users that voted for us in the category of Best Online Educational Initiative, the shortlist is detailed below and the winner will be announced at the awards on 19th November 2008.
Thames River - Examining the case for equities
Frantic markets have led us to contact you three times this month with up-to-the-minute thoughts and details of our investment strategy and how it is adapting to prevailing market conditions.
Thames River - Conference call invitation
Rob Burdett and Gary Potter would like to invite you to participate in a conference call: Time: 10.30am Date: 12th November 2008
Wizard Learning - Making CPD simple
The FSAs emphasis on regulation becomes more and more principles based focusing on outputs from firms rather than imposing the contents of telephone directory sized rulebooks on us all.
Back in the USSA
The land of the free and the stalwart of the capitalist system, America stands as the bulwark against socialism and as the advocate of the free economy. Well, that is the usual mantra but of course not everything is quite as it seems.
Panaceas role is to join up the loose connections between the many thousand small, directly regulated Independent Financial Adviser firms and product providers. Over the years, smaller IFAs have lost the face to face support resource that existed for the benefit of customers. The aim is also to correct the support and service imbalance with providers currently in favour of Networks and larger national IFA firms. we have over 1000 members involved with Panacea and this is number is growing.
The End of the Beginning?
Watching the fortresses of capitalism crumbling before our eyes has been an astonishing nay frightening, act to behold. I know that the media has run out of exaggerated adjectives to describe these events and the hyperbole is becoming tired, but we need to maintain some objective views as to how this is progressing.
FREE eServices Workshop in Bristol, 6th November - hosted by Clerical Medical
To confirm your place or to find out more about the free eServices event, please follow this link: www.adviserwise.com/NovemberWorkshop
No need to hunt for Red October or Blowing the Dam (and a grossly extended metaphor)
So will it work? The truthful answer is that it has to. There is no plan B. The rescue package was certainly bold and the internationally co-ordinated interest rate cut a welcome surprise, but will it be enough to start clearing the log jam?
LV= wins 'Individual Income Protection' Award
Insurance and investment group LV= has won the Individual Income Protection category at this years COVER Excellence Awards.
Wraps free Due Diligence Toolkit for Advisers
Given the continuing FSA focus on the growth of wraps and the importance for advisers to complete Due Diligence, Rayner Spencer Mills have developed a Due Diligence Toolkit which is free to all advisers who register on their dedicated website at www.therightwrap.co.uk
Compliance tip - October 2008 - Don't lose sight of the currency crunch
Those firms which were caught by the changes that came in with the arrival of MiFID last year have had to adapt to meeting and ensuring that their financial resources are maintained at a designated level of Euros rather than the previous levels measured in sterling.
LV= have you met the new kid on the MPPI block?
If you're tired of traditional MPPI, visit www.LVmlp.co.uk to learn about our revolutionary, 5 star Defaqto rated Mortgage & Lifestyle Protection.
Regulation & TCF - a different take
We have seen some master classes from John Cleese over the years in regard to treating customers fairly and have all suffered frustrations with the relationship between small IFAs, the FSA and FOS.
Thames River Capital: Buying time - but not necessarily a time to buy!
They say a week can be a long time in politics. Well, whether or not it is conference season in the political world, a week in these markets feels like a lifetime. In the last couple of weeks we have experienced one of the most extraordinary periods in financial markets for a generation. Unprecedented volatility in both equities and fixed income assets by the hour has made fundamental investing extremely difficult for any rational investor.
LV= wins Best Protection Service Award
Insurance and investment group, LV= has won the Best Protection Service award at this year's Investment Life & Pensions Moneyfacts awards.
The end of an error
A recently spotted American bumper sticker read as follows: 20th January 2009 The End of an Error. This really only makes sense if you realise that 20th January is the inauguration day for the new US President, and the last word is pronounced as era but nonetheless is an interesting commentary on the 8 years of Mr Bush.
LV= launches 'large case service for protection cases
Protection specialist LV= has announced a brand new large case service across its range of protection products for financial advisers high net worth clients.
New Tax Guide Published - How to Beat the Credit Crunch
TaxCafe have just published a brand new tax guide called How to Beat the Credit Crunch, by Toby Hone.
The Squirrel and The Grasshopper
The squirrel works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building and improving his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the squirrel is warm and well fed. The shivering grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
Wizard Learning releases 10 new products
We thought we would issue a quick round up the 10 new products that we have released in the last 3 months in case you have missed any.
A Whiff of Cordite
Forgive me this week for a bit of personal commentary but the events and feelings of the past few days I think should be recorded for more proper recollection once the dust of this destruction has had time to settle.
A Whiff of Cordite
Forgive me this week for a bit of personal commentary but the events and feelings of the past few days I think should be recorded for more proper recollection once the dust of this destruction has had time to settle.
Thames River - Walking through Cold Treacle
Thats exactly how it feels investing in the market right now and Financial Advisers are rightly confused about what they should be telling clients. So what do we think and what observations can we make? There are many interrelated factors that are affecting current investor sentiment, but to try and simplify matters, share prices are determined largely by future earnings and the confidence investors place in them. This is where the problem lies at the moment.
Sheer capitalism reveals a Bears tender spot
In the good old days Russia would not have had this problem. If you had trouble with a tiresome neighbour or a stroppy ally, you could always go in and park your tanks on their lawn, and frankly there was little anyone could do apart from bleat and protest for a while. UN votes and demonstrations had little impact on a communist totalitarian nation. Only in Afghanistan did a ruthless (and mostly Western armed) resistance army have any real effect and finally throw the Russians out.
Wizard Learning launches final financial planning elements
Following the great success of our Practice Exam Packages (PEP) for CII Diploma subjects, we are delighted to introduce our CF5 Integrated Financial Planning PEP and CF4 Retirement Planning text revision course.