DB Pensions and why DB transfer flows will continue
Defined benefit (DB) pensions loom large over the UK wealth landscape, with huge assets and even bigger liabilities. Shortfalls (actual or potential) between assets and liabilities, and the choices of funds in managing them, make DB particularly challenging in terms of asset management, while DB transfers have become an important part of wealth industry […]
Read more...Future of ISAs – a tax shelter for high income earners?
In our last edition we looked at the narrowing of the ISA market, in particular the divergence of the Cash and Stocks & Shares markets. Cash ISAs sales have fallen sharply in terms of both the number of accounts and value. Stocks & Shares ISA sales on the other hand, have been largely flat […]
Read more...The End of Trend?
Topics in 401(k) Distribution: First in a Series For more than a dozen years RSI studies have traced the inexorable march of 401(k) advisors as they converged around three interrelated principles: 1) being fee-based; 2) writing business as a Registered Investment Advisor or Investment Advisor Representative and 3) acting as a fiduciary. This year all […]
Read more...Platform fees: the new frontier
The way platforms charge clients has been undergoing steady (if not disruptive) change as the large providers have established scale positions and the battle to be an adviser’s ‘lead platform’ has escalated. Most wrap platforms have now incorporated fee caps (setting the administration fee at zero beyond a particular FUM level) and family/account aggregation (combining […]
Read more...ISAs in 2018 – a market in decline?
The UK government recently released the Individual Savings Account (ISA) sales statistics for year ended April 2018 – with some concerning trends. Although £ volumes showed healthy growth, this is a narrowing (and highly segmented) market in terms of customers. For those unfamiliar with the UK market, an ISA is a tax-advantaged savings vehicle in […]
Read more...Robo-advice: what happens when you peak too early?
About a year ago we published a series of Trialogues titled ‘lots of robo, not much advice’. Back then, despite the hype most robo providers were landing at ‘investment selection advice’ and going no further. It seemed only a few had made the foray into self-directed, strategic personal advice, and even then, none of these […]
Read more...Advisers are happier than ever with platforms
Platforms continue to play a critical role in advisers’ businesses, providing a means to efficiently administer, report on and monitor their clients’ portfolios. However, they can often be taken for granted and undervalued by advisers, sometimes bearing the brunt of criticism partially as the complexity of providing these services is misunderstood. Nevertheless, the latest NMG […]
Read more...Consumers and Platforms – a new behavioural segmentation model
Our last Citylogue highlighted some key findings from NMG’s consumer research for the FCA’s Investment Platform Market Study – what factors are most important to consumers and how satisfied they are (pretty satisfied at present). The scale of our study – over 3,000 consumers of the top 20 UK platforms – also allowed us to […]
Read more...Key Consumer Findings From the Investment Platform Market Study
Platforms now dominate UK retail advised flows, and we discussed in this recent Citylogue the benefits for consumers and advisers. But are consumers actually satisfied? A study undertaken by NMG for the FCA’s Investment Platform Market Study shows the majority of platform investors are in fact satisfied with their experiences in choosing and using […]
Read more...Release of the National Health Insurance Bill and Medical Schemes Amendment Bill
On Thursday 21 June 2018, The Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi released the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill and the Medical Schemes Amendment (MSA) Bill. The Bills set out the envisaged pathway to NHI with medical schemes continuing to operate alongside. NMG is working through these Bills with the intention to submit commentary during the […]
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