Rates. How low can you go?
Cash accounts on platforms interest (ha!) me. Whilst no one really should be using a platform to be fully invested in cash in the long term it’s clearly an important facility to have. Strategic asset allocations often require a small cash holding, and most clients like the comfort blanket of knowing they can flee to […]
A right old robo romp
The sun has finally made an appearance at lang cat HQ this week (with some thunder and lightning thrown in for dramatic effect) which means not just one, but TWO great things: summer has finally arrived here in Leith and our free annual guide to direct platform investing has been let loose on the world […]
10 years of treating customers fairly
July 2006 is not a month to stir the memories. England had just been knocked out of the world cup on pens, the best-selling album was the High School Musical soundtrack (fist pump of solidarity with all the parents who endured that one) and according to Dr Wikipedia one of the most significant news events […]
Weekend reading
Lots of interesting stuff over the weekend, so for those of you with a life who didn’t spend the weekend reviewing the personal finance press, here’s a quick round up. Friday evening started with a bang (#langcatlife) with the FT front cover on pension fund transparency. Much more to come on this, building on the […]
Don’t believe the hype
I’m pretty sure Chuck D and Flavor Flav had other things on their mind beyond platform due diligence when they penned their 1988 classic, but hey, it’s a great record, and its central hook is certainly worth remembering at the moment. The platform world is changing. The Axa Elevate move broke earlier this week, and […]
PS16/12 and the mystery of the cover photos
Another week, another chunky missive from the FCA. Although happily, PS16/12: Pensions reforms, feedback on CP15/30 and final rules and guidance didn’t make me feel like turning green and smashing stuff. So that’s a good start. PS16/12 follows on from CP15/30: Pensions reform, proposed changes to our rules and guidance. It looked at whether consumers […]
REMIND ME WHY WE’RE DOING THIS AGAIN?
There’s a theme running through the FCA’s Consultation Paper 16/12: Secondary Annuity Market proposed rules and guidance. If you’ve braved all 112 pages (or any of them really) you might have spotted it. Here are some clues! Paragraph 1.7, We believe that there is a significant risk of poor outcomes for consumers in the secondary […]
UFPLS NO MORE?
There’s a new endangered species to add to the ever growing list. Never mind your black rhinos or your Sumatran orangutans. No, the one we need to worry about is UFPLS. The ABI has called time on pensions jargon. It’s consulting on a new guide to pensions language which will clear away the confusing in […]
All change in platform land
After a quiet few months in platform land it feels like things are about to change, and potentially quite dramatically. There are a number of rumours doing the rounds, here, here and here, and these are just the ones that have been published. At lang cat HQ we do have a view as to how […]
EVERYTHING COMES TO THOSE WHO WAIT (KIND OF)
He likes to work a crowd does our Gideon. To be fair, it’s his big moment of the year. The key note speech. The one time people will generally sit and listen to him with only a modicum of heckling. But even at that he was outclassed and upstaged. Between Theresa May’s cleavage and the […]
