Industry news and views from Panacea and our partners.
Panacea Comment_
Algorithms dont do a good job of detecting their own flaws
An algorithm is a clearly defined step-by-step set of operations to be performed by a computer.
What have the Romans ever done for us?
Switch this to what have the regulators ever done for us? because you could be forgiven for thinking youve woken up on the set of a Monty Python film. Regulation is there to protect the consumer from bad advice but surely not at the price of removing rights and liberties afforded the rest of the population?
Oh Beirut, what has been done to you now?
Forgive me for going a bit off piste this Bento. Back in the early seventies, the world was a different time and place, and in my travels, Beirut was often a much-treasured stop over.
Ode to the small city centre business
First, they wanted to save our NHS and demanded that we all stay at home, I did not speak outbecause I believed the government advice
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Isn't it Ironic?
Almost 2m mortgages are on payment holiday, around one in six. Sixty percent of applicants applied in the first three weeks of the scheme! The average deferral is about £755pm
Dear CEO
Firstly, just look at the picture. Southend on Sea, my hometown last month. Its now acceptable to go to the beach (we do call it that in Southend although some may differ) and this is what social distancing in practice means to Southenders and beach visitors from London. It also is what beachgoers call staying alert and not overdoing it.
Not quite banged to rights
In an update June 11th, the FCA said a leading bank had potentially unfairly treated more than a quarter of a million borrowers in mortgage arrears, including vulnerable customers.
Calls for adviser protection as financials probed
Panacea Adviser has called for greater financial protection for intermediaries as the regulator sets its sights on regulated companies balance-sheet strength.
Hundreds of advice firms give up DB permissions
In crackdown on the defined benefit market published today (June 5) the FCA warned it would continue its removal of firms from the market were it found unsuitable advice was "unacceptably high".
Advisers, prepare for an FSCS shocker
FSCS pays out on mortgage endowment claims against adviser. Please say its not so. Well I cant actually and in fact I am amazed that the FSCS is not only paying out on endowment claims, it is paying out on claims that could have been correctly, legitimately dismissed years ago by advisory firms based on the normal complaint barring rules.
That ain't workin', that's the way you do it
How does that song go, Money for nothing and your cheques for free? Is this why so many may not be happy to return to work?
Covid-19. IFA blood test results now through
Since 1 July 2017, it has been a regulatory requirement that firms need to hold the higher of £20,000 or 5 per cent of their investment business income in order to meet capital adequacy rules. Government loans granted to firms in a bid to tackle the coronavirus fallout cannot be used to meet capital adequacy requirements, the FSA warned last month in a helpful Dear CEO letter. They added that: "Government schemes to help firms through this period can be used to help firms plan for how they will meet debts as they fall due and in the immediate period."
COVID-19. What would Ginger Crompton do?
For those who are a bit thrown by the headline please bear with me a bit. Ginger worked for BOAC, he had been around the world a lot on military service during WW2 as well as ships in the grand era of the ocean liners and in the air at the beginning of the jet age through to the early 80s. When I met him, he was my in-flight boss, a cabin service director (in the old days a Senior Steward) role on VC10s, 707s and the early days of the jumbo. An exceptional character who was never phased by anything or anyone.
UKplc is going to need a bigger bucket for this bailout
Lets think positive shall we? As the weeks of enforced one exercise a day, household restrictions and social distancing have passed by, new opportunities can and will be discovered with a little thought.
Ordinary, said Aunt Lydia, is what you are used to. A Covid19 update
I feel we are about to enter the dystopian world of Handmaids Tale. Aunt Lydia went on to say This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will".
Hedge fund tycoon makes £115million from this month's coronavirus stock market crash
Headlines like this from the Daily Mail on the 21st March do not help soothe the public mood, and especially those whose pension and saving funds have seen huge losses.
Never mind Covid19
Panacea readers may recall that back in 2014 we did some work around Prostate cancer to create awareness that us guys needed to take care of ourselves a bit too based on some very personal experiences.
Coronovirus, is it all just fake news?
As UK and global hysteria increases, stock markets crashing, holidays ruined, flights to the far east cut, schools closing, self-isolation increasing, even C4s Jon Snow, 6 nations rugby put on hold and globally goodness knows what else to try and contain the march of the Covid19 virus.
Diversity, political correctness and the FCA
Back in January, I came across an article suggesting that Governments have always been vulnerable to forms of themed political craziness. It is an interesting read.
Graeme Abell
Many will know Graeme Abell, Director of Nationals & Networks for M&G UK Retail. He had worked for M&G for some 19 years and retired in December. It was therefore with considerable sorrow that we learned of his untimely death just before Christmas. He was a great friend and supporter of Panacea and we are sure he will be sorely missed by very many of our IFA community in addition to his family.
Auto-enrolment, the cost of non- compliance
The Pensions Regulator is getting tougher on auto-enrolment compliance.
FCA consultations are they worth the effort survey
The FCA carry out many consultations, all for very good reasons, at least we hope that is the case. But there is a suspicion in the intermediated distribution world that the reality is that the decision has already been made and that the consultation is there to demonstrate the inclusiveness of the regulator and nothing more. I may be accused of being a bit cynical, perhaps over 45 years in the industry has caused some battle hardening, but just think about this a bit.
Woodford. The thrill has gone
Last week, Woodford investment saw crashes after short-seller attack. In situations like this I often turn to the blues for some short sharp analytical lyrical inspiration of the situation. In this case to quote Muddy Waters (not that firm) but the blues-mans song Rolling and Tumblin.
FSCS nil, nicht, nada, rien. HM treasury £45.5m
A few weeks back I saw that Bank of Scotland were subjected to a fairly whopping fine for Fraud Failures.
Crime, punishment and tax
We hear that BA is facing a chunky fine for data protection breaches, £183m in fact, equivalent to 1.5% of the airline's annual turnover. The Information Commissioner's Office said it found "poor security arrangements" by BA. CEO Alex Cruz expressed surprise. This the biggest the ICO has ever imposed. Welcome to the world of punishment taxation Snr Cruz.
Brexit fallout, would you employ Olly Robbins?
I do not know, him, have never met him or have any personal axe to grind but last weeks announcement that the Rasputin of Brexit is to leave (when Theresa May leaves office) his role as head of the European and Global Issues Secretariat, advising the Prime Minister on the EU and to oversee Brexit came as not a big surprise
A nice little earner.
Dodgy dealing has come along way over the years, gone are the good old days as some may see it, when a little bit of petty larceny was seen as a fair contest between the punter, the police and the villain.
We dont need no stinking badges. Oh yes you do, now
CMCs are about to have some insights into what regulatory reality should be about. The word from Endeavour Square is that "We will be out, and we are starting to think which firms we're going to visit in the next days and weeks.". Many will be aware of all the work done since July 2012 with the MoJs Kevin Roussell by Alan Lakey and I to root out this scourge. Sadly for Kevin he died just before his work went live.
Trains, planes and phone awareness month?
Have phones at work become the new smoking in the workplace? Mobiles are everywhere today, you cannot escape them. In the office, on the train, in the street, the office, airplanes, the underground, cinema, restaurants, theatre, gym, sauna. My latest encounter was only last week, a steam room at my gym where the texting user when asked if it was appropriate to have a mobile in such a place advised me it was waterproof, an amazing example of not getting the consideration for others point.
FOS compensation hike. Hand me the black cap, will you.
We highlighted in November the need for firms to respond to an FCA consultation on a proposed FOS compensation limit hike of 200k taking the maximum pay-out to £350k. It was announced with very little time to respond. The consultation opened 16 Oct and closed 21 Dec so slightly over two months. Just one hundred firms, including Panacea responded
Ethics matters
Financial advisers are fiercely proud of what they do and since RDR, most are 100% fee-based businesses. All are professional and most aspire to be treated as a profession. I have not been an IFA for over 14 years, as many of you will know, but I have always been fascinated with how firms present themselves and their proposition to their clients and prospective clients. And how that proposition can appear to competitors
Can anyone imagine a large UK business being run like this?
Some headlines from last week to make you feel proud about British democracy, values and standards. 1. "May faces 'high noon' Cabinet meltdown on Brexit 2. Philip Hammond refuses to rule out QUITTING if the UK leaves the EU without a deal 3. Rudd threatens to walk out to back Remainer revolt" Now for a scenario to imagine as you look around your office today.
Feel brave enough FCA?
Being responsible is what the financial industry should be about Sadly we have now reached a stage that the responsibility now falls on all as the few who mess it up never have the resources to put things right.
A fourth way to fund regulation?
First of all Panacea followers, this is our 1,000th Bento. Given this landmark status, I felt that it should contain something special, and with that in mind, I would like to make a heartfelt suggestion or two about how the regulation and protections in the financial services industry could be re-engineered, for in regulatory parlance, better regulated firm and consumer outcomes.
A fourth way to fund regulation?
First of all Panacea followers, this is our 1,000th Bento. Given this landmark status, I felt that it should contain something special, and with that in mind, I would like to make a heartfelt suggestion or two about how the regulation and protections in the financial services industry could be re-engineered, for in regulatory parlance, better regulated firm and consumer outcomes.
Go immediately to jail, do not pass go
On day two of 2019 yet another IFA has been jailed for fraud. Neil Bartlett, 53, of Delamere Road, Ainsdale, used £4.5m of his victims money to fund some of the usual, favoured by all fraudsters, indulgencies of foreign travel, top hotels, prostitutes, exotic cars, boats and gambling.
FOS cunning plan to destroy smaller IFA firms.
The Financial Ombudsman service announced, on the 16th October, it was proposing that on 1 April 2019, yes, now just 4 months away, the ombudsman services £150,000 award limit should increase by 133% to: £350,000 for complaints about acts or omissions by firms on or after 1 April 2019 £160,000 for complaints about acts or omissions by firms before 1 April 2019, and which are referred to the ombudsman service after that date They also propose that, from 1 April 2020 onwards, both award limits should be automatically adjusted on 1 April to ensure they keep pace with inflation, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). For any complaints referred to the ombudsman service before 1 April 2019 the limit will remain at £150,000.
FCA suggests clear out of sales dinosaurs
Arthurs thought for the day: "You make contact with your customer. Understand their needs. And then flog them something they could well do without. I think this may be what one senior figure at the FCAs perception of financial services sales persons is?
Defaqto announced as latest partner for Panacea Adviser
Panacea Adviser has today announced Defaqto as the latest parter to join its growing roster.