Five things you should know about… HMO lending
By John Goodall, chief executive of buy-to-let specialist Landbay
Has Britain really stopped saving?
By Steve Webb, Director of Policy and External Communications Our latest policy paper reveals what the fall in the savings ratio does (and doesn’t) mean In June 2017, the Office for National Statistics published its estimates for the ‘savings ratio’ for the first quarter of 2017. This is essentially a measure of the percentage of […]
Employers fined £52,500 for auto-enrolment failings
By Jamie Clark, Business Development Manager The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has taken the step of naming and shaming employers that have been served County Court Judgments (CCJs) for non-payment of auto-enrolment fines. We take a look at what this means for employers, their employees and advisers Shamed into action? Sixty-four employers have been served CCJs […]
DB transfer showstoppers
By Jim Grant, Senior Product Insight & Technical Support Analyst Transfers from defined benefit (DB) schemes are a bit of a hot topic just now. In this article we look at a couple of factors that could prevent a transfer from happening Equalisation of pensions Prior to the Barber case in 1990, DB pension schemes typically provided […]
Advice or guidance? That is the question
The Retail Distribution Review (RDR) brought many benefits to the UK pension industry, but it also created an advice gap, resulting in consumers with the smallest funds struggling to access advice at a suitable price By Justin Corliss, Business Development Manager The Financial Advice Market Review (FAMR) produced in March 2016 aims to remedy this, […]
Consumer attitudes to protection
Royal London commissioned Opinium to run our State of the Protection Nation research to find out how people felt about their own protection needs and the industry as a whole. By Ross Jackson, Senior Protection Marketing Manager We surveyed people who had already taken out some kind of protection insurance and those who didn’t have […]
Trust me, I’m a provider
By Craig Paterson, Underwriting and Claims Philosophy Manager, Royal London Hard-hitting headlines “Dying mother of two is refused life insurance payout.”1 “What a way to treat a dying man: Grandfather refused life insurance claim.”2 “A widow betrayed by a life insurance company.”3 With headlines like these, it’s no wonder some consumers don’t trust providers. Trust […]
Putting more power in your hands: The new Royal London pension Review Service
Strong relationships don’t just happen by accident. They take time, commitment and effort. When we spoke to a number of advisers last year, it was no surprise to hear regular reviews were at the heart of their ability to forge deeper connections with their clients. It’s a chance to catch up. A dedicated checkpoint to […]
Overseas transfer charge
By Jim Grant, Senior Product Insight & Technical Support Analyst, Royal London Transfers to overseas pension schemes are not recognised transfers unless the transfer is to a Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS). A transfer to an overseas pension scheme that isn’t a QROPS is therefore an unauthorised payment and taxed accordingly. However, even if the […]
Financial advice can benefit customers by £40,000
New research shows those customers who receive financial advice can be better off on average by £40,000 We’ve sponsored a research project with the International Longevity Centre – UK (ILC-UK) to produce ‘The Value of Financial Advice’ report. This independent research demonstrates that customers who take financial advice can, on average, be £40,000 better off than those […]
The lucky ones
By Denise Wond, Marketing Relationship Manager, Royal London Do you consider yourself lucky? I don’t; I never seem to win a prize in the raffle, if there’s a cancelled train it’s usually the one I’m meant to be on and don’t start me on last year’s holiday. On the other hand, when I think about […]
Generation Rent
By Denise Wond, Marketing Relationship Manager, Royal London We’ve heard a great deal about Generation Rent in recent years but what does it actually mean for consumers and advisers and has the face of the typical renter changed? The picture is certainly more diverse than it used to be Homeownership has fallen to 64 per […]