Noddle use required
So I had an interesting day yesterday at the Platforum regional roadshow in sunny Polmont (aim for the big oil refinery, you can’t miss it, unless you’re Holly). Lots of good sessions, free flip-flops on the Aviva stand and, most importantly, Rory Percival, the FSA’s technical specialist on platformy things. Incidentally, Glasvegas wrote a song […]
GC12-06 – The Little Paper That Makes A Big Difference
Back in the mists of last August, I mentioned the FSA Says, We’re Rubber, You’re Glue, It Bounces Off Us And Sticks To You! here that the FSA were looking newly buffed and getting punchy with the industry, right there in print. That buffing is reaffirmed in their latest exocet, Guidance Consultation 12-06, which came […]
Unbundling and the Big Three
Well now, I was never going to be able to resist this. 2 April 2012 was the day that the first of the Big Three fund supermarkets got their act together and launched into the unbundled space. Fidelity FundsNetwork were the winner, beating Cofunds by a lap or so, with Skandia still faffing around in […]
Go where the risk is
So I just had a good chat with the entirely excellent Jun at Citywire about the FSA’s concerns on single platform usage, conflicts of interest, nasty letters and all that kind of thing. Also today, I read about FundsNetwork reanimating their £50/£100 bung for IFAs putting ISA cases onto their platform. And I’ve been hearing […]
A low speed train crash
So it’s been ages since I last posted, most remiss of me, sorry for causing an aching void in your lives, that sort of thing. It’s been a busy old time at the lang cat; we’ve been involved in all sorts of fun stuff from TCF reviews of platform literature right through to proposition development […]
IMMIGRANTS IN SEX PENSION ROMP RIP-OFF SHOCKER!!!!
Sorry, came over a bit Daily Express there… A few stories have been smashing into each other (in my head, at least) over the last few days. First, LV= (how I do hate that equals sign) dipped a toe into the post-RDR insured pension space with their new low-cost adjunct to their SIPP. The trolls […]
Don’t take us for idiots
In an earlier post, I had a bit of a go in an open letter at direct-to-customer platform giant Hargreaves Lansdown over their charging structure. Lots of people seemed to agree, and I’m pleased to say that…it’s made not the slightest bit of difference. That’s the power of social media. Or something. At the moment, […]
Will platform margins really halve in 3 years?
Hmmm! The redoubtable Southampton-based platform behemoth Skandia has started 2012 in characteristically robust fashion by jack-in-the-boxing on Citywire and predicting that platform margins will halve by 2015. According to Skandia, the market is at 30-50bps now, and will be at 20-25bps by 2015. Only 10 platforms will survive. Cue the Destiny’s Child song of your […]
Peace out from the lang cat
So that was the year that was. As I write this I’m on a train back to Edinburgh having missed the lang kitten v1.0’s carol concert. It’s been that kind of year. Work/life balance? Not so much. Never mind. Being a talking head is no fun if you can’t do a review of the year […]
A few thoughts on the pension strikes
So a funny thing happened last weekend. I say funny, it wasn’t really, but you know what I mean. I was having a drink with a friend who’s a healthcare professional in the NHS. We were talking about the 30 November industrial action. She’s not going out on strike, as she has quite a lot […]
