Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Monday 2 December 2024. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Skerritts rebrands to Shackleton and buys four advice firms
Skerritts has rebranded to Shackleton and has bought four more financial-advice businesses.
This brings the number of deals completed to 15 since private-equity firm Sovereign Capital Partners’ investment in March 2021.
The four advice businesses are Save & Invest Group, Fleming Financial Limited, Robson Lister Limited and Shorts Financial Services.
FCA sets its sights on targeted support
There are plenty of conversations going on at the moment about whom financial advice should be aimed at, writes chief reporter Lois Vallely.
Many, especially younger planners, argue that it should be accessible to all. Others believe that regulated financial advice should be reserved for people with assets over a certain amount — and advisers’ views on how much that should be vary widely.
It’s a Catch-22 situation because often those who most need advice are the ones who can’t afford to pay for it.
Castlefield taking a ‘wait and see’ approach to adopting SDR labels
Castlefield is taking a “wait and see” approach to adopting the FCA’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) labels for its funds.
This is what Castlefield head of stewardship Ita McMahon told Money Marketing, but the firm does “remain supportive of the labelling system”.
Castlefield is known as ‘The Thoughtful Investor’ as it believes in investing clients’ assets in a responsible and sustainable way.
Quote Of The Day
The Budget blip was a wrinkle rather than a rift. The housing market has shaken it off, bouncing back to its fastest annual growth since November 2022
– Hargreaves Lansdown head of personal finance Sarah Coles on Nationwide’s house price index for November
Stat Attack
Research from Oxford Risk based on speaking to 1,000 over-55-year-olds shows they are struggling in the run-up to retirement.
38%
are clear on how much money they will need when they stop working.
27%
are not on track to retire at their target age.
35%
do not believe they will be able to afford the retirement they want.
32%
say they are dissatisfied with their current financial situation.
31%
of women say they are not on track to retire at their target age compared with 22% of men.
Source: Oxford Risk
In Other News
Multiply, an AI platform for financial advice, has partnered with Scottish Widows.
Multiply and Scottish Widows will be aiming to revolutionise pension
guidance through algorithmic AI-driven personalisation and an enhanced user experience
The Proof of Concept (PoC) is a direct result of Multiply’s progression through the Lloyds Banking Group Launch programme.
This Proof of Concept (PoC) aims to address the growing demand for accessible, personalised pension support. The partnership will be exploring the “unique complexities” of retirement planning and what that means to customers.
ARK Invest has appointed Carl Henrik Hagerup as head of northern European sales.
Based in London, Hagerup has held several high-profile roles in the European ETF industry, most recently as managing director and head of Netherlands and Nordics at 21Shares.
Prior to that, he led the institutional and wholesale client coverage across the Nordic region for State Street Global Advisors.
Hagerup previously held key positions at Intercontinental Exchange and Bloomberg.
In his new role, Henrik will report directly to Stuart Forbes head of ARK Invest in Europe.
Forbes said: “Since ARK Invest’s entry into the European market, we have been one of the few thematic ETF providers to bring in net new assets over the period, a testament to the dedicated thematic investment and sustainability expertise we have in our global team.
“Carl’s hire is significant in taking our European footprint to the next level. His long-term experience in forging deep relationships across the region will be critical to our European growth plans and bringing our disruptive innovation and sustainability and impact investment solutions to a wider audience.”
From Elsewhere
Latest US strike on China’s chips hits semiconductor toolmakers (Reuters)
Typhoo Tea bought out of administration for millions (Sky News)
UK business tax raid crashing private sector, CBI survey finds (Bloomberg)
Did You See?
Defined Benefit (DB) scheme trustees have been urged to consider ‘other’ factors as well as price when choosing an insurer for buy-in or buy-out as part of their pension de-risking strategy.
The call was made today (29 November) in a paper published by independent pensions and financial services consultant Hymans Robertson.
The report outlined what DB trustees need to think about as they assess these other factors.
These include the ability to provide a robust administration capability, the process during data cleanse and whether the insurer will be able to meet timescales yet remain flexible.
It also suggested thinking about whether members will have a smooth experience and checking that the insurer has security and governance measures in place, such as cyber security and risk-management processes.
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