Opinion & Insight
Why the Pension Schemes Act is important to clients and their advisers
This month the Pension Minister, Torsten Bell published a long Bill concerned with Pension Schemes.
Henry Tapper · 1 Jul 20254 min read
166 articles
Opinion & Insight
Browse all articles across people aspects of regulation and people development within UK financial services
Opinion & Insight
What’s the driving force behind the increase in mortgages being arranged on fixed interest rates? Is there an issue brewing?
Anyone involved in the residential mortgage lending world will be acutely aware of the massive increase in mortgages being arranged on a fixed rate basis.
Nick Baxter · 1 Apr 20253 min read
Opinion & Insight
Who is regulating your pension?
There is speculation that the current system, where the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulated insured and self-invested personal pensions and the Pensions Regulator (TPR) regulates occupational pensions has broken down.
Henry Tapper · 1 Apr 20254 min read
Opinion & Insight
It starts with you: A more personal approach to professional development in 2025
It’s time to help ourselves. The insurance sector is currently facing a talent management crisis. This presents both challenges and opportunities for growth and development. However, many of us have become stuck in the monotony of a transactional relationship with Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
Tom Wood · 1 Jan 20254 min read
Opinion & Insight
Why does nobody want to pay pensions these days?
I went to the Invesco “Summer” drinks recently, (thanks Invesco) – I think I was invited as a journalist and my role seemed to be to listen to fund managers tell me about their world.
Henry Tapper · 1 Oct 20244 min read
Opinion & Insight
Will Basel 3.1 impact on the availability of niche lending products?
There has been a lot of recent trade press coverage in respect of Basel 3.1, and in particular the potential negative impact on the availability of niche mortgage products following various changes to the risk-weighted asset calculations. So, what’s going on and might it impact on product availability and choice?
Nick Baxter · 1 Oct 20243 min read
Opinion & Insight
Why a tick-box approach to compliance and training is not the answer
In the complex landscape of UK financial services, protecting customers from harm is paramount. Regulatory compliance, coupled with training and competence, is therefore rightly a keystone in the sector.
Tom Wood · 1 Oct 20244 min read
Opinion & Insight
Leading by example: The importance of senior managers undertaking CPD
As a minimum, firms are required by regulation to ensure employees maintain adequate knowledge of eight core competencies (as set out in SYSC 28.2.2R:as transposed from the IDD), the Individual Conduct Rules, and how these apply to their role.
Rebecca Matyear · 1 Jul 20246 min read
Opinion & Insight
What is to be done about workplace GPPs in a master trust world
Rachel Reeves spoke to colleagues at the Times CEO conference about the importance of DC consolidation. I was not there but it prompted these thoughts.
Henry Tapper · 1 Jul 20244 min read
Opinion & Insight
Equity release still needs a trust and reputation makeover
Viewers of daytime TV are assailed with three types of adverts – cruises for the confident, funeral plans for the morbid and lifetime mortgages for the skint. Older people watch a lot of TV in the daytime. Funeral plans and cruises are doing fine, but equity release sales have fallen through the floor.
Henry Tapper · 1 Apr 20245 min read
Opinion & Insight
The unintended consequence of long term repayment loans
Anyone involved in the residential mortgage industry will not have missed the steady, and now significant, uptick in the number of lenders offering longer terms alongside their mortgage range.
Nick Baxter · 2 Jan 20243 min read
Opinion & Insight
What to make of the FCA’s latest proposals to close the advice gap
For a long time, the advice/guidance boundary was on the margin not just of advice and guidance but of pension debate. But today it’s hard to think of a more talked about challenge in the UK savings market than closing the advice gap.
Henry Tapper · 1 Jan 20244 min read
