The tedium of going o’er
The news yesterday that Aviva has stopped its workplace savings platform programme (read the story here and here) is interesting in lots of ways. Now, before the yellow and blue dudes reading this start reaching for the batphone to the legal heavies, I should mention that I’ve worked on the Aviva workplace savings programme on […]
The worst of all worlds
You couldn’t make it up. I’m yet to meet anyone who thinks unit rebates are a good idea. That’s not quite true. I know one provider who likes them, mainly because they have the functionality in place to deal with them and they reckon there’s a competitive advantage there (that may not be how they’d […]
Clean is the new dirty
Hello and welcome to the first lang cat blog of 2013. At least the first blog on this site, I,ve been doing some posting over on Adviser Lounge, which is worth a visit if you haven,t already. So the hot issue at the moment, now that RDR is here, is fund rebates and their wily […]
Slainte mhath from the lang cat
Well, that’s been quite a year. As I look around me I see an industry full of completely done-in, knackered, farmutshet folks. Don’t know why, it’s not like anything big’s happening at the end of 2012… …Ho, ho. As I write, it looks like pretty much all the providers have just about got most of […]
My life as a pie chart
So I came across this article today, called Retiring The Portfolio Screenshot. I opened it thinking it was something about what clients see about their investments on wrap platforms. But it isn’t. It’s about creative types doing better demos of the work they’ve done for clients. So, you know, whatever and good luck to them […]
Turning up for dessert – AJ Bell joins the unbundled dinner party
OK, so we have a new toy to play with. The toy is AJ Bell’s new Sippcentre pricing structure, and (colours to the mast), it’s a good’un. AJ Bell is the last of the big guys to the transparency table, so their structure will generate considerable interest. It does need a little unpacking though, so […]
the lang cat Guide To Platform Pricing – now live
So today the lang cat launches its very first commercially available market analysis report. Its title is ‘You want how much?’ and the subject, predictably, is platform pricing. We’re pretty excited about it. You can get a sneakypeeky here (just click on the image of the report). The cornerstone of the Guide is an analysis […]
Fashionably late – Skandia joins the transparency gang
There was SIMPLY NO WAY that I’d be able to let this go by. What a day for Skandia, and what a triumph of news management. With UK inflows on SIS dropping 40% and a reminder in the analyst statements that only £20bn or so of the near £40bn it’s credited with having is on […]
Standard Life to the transparency diary room
<<EDIT – Since writing this SL has been in touch – hi, how you doing – to say that I got the charging structure wrong – the charge on the total pot changes at various trigger points rather than a set charge applying to each tranche. Very happy to amend – this stuff has to […]
What Tom Waits has to say about legacy business
First off, it’s been a shockingly long time since I wrote this blog. Poor form, been busy, blah blah. How’ve you been? Yes, yes I know. Yes, it is worrying. No, I don’t think putting a Greek island in your SIPP is a good idea. Shall we? Some years ago, when tripartite DFM agreements were […]
