Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Monday 19 June, 2023. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Consumer Duty puts pressure on DFMs
Hymans Robertson Investment Services (HRIS) has said the Consumer Duty has led to an uptick in questions from financial advisers.
Its chief investment officer (CIO) and head of wealth investment William Marshall said advisers retain responsibility for any outsourced service under the Consumer Duty.
Does size really matter?
There are certain characteristics firms have in common simply due to their size.
Being aware of the pros and cons of joining a small or a big firm will be helpful when choosing an employer.
What should new entrants take on board?
Quote Of The Day
There is no clear vision of the support people need, and consequently policy is piecemeal and insufficient – leaving savers at risk from poor decisions.
– Doug Brown, CEO of UK & Ireland Life at Aviva, comments on an Aviva survey which found almost 3.4 million pension savers could retire with more than £225,000 in the 2050s
Stat Attack
Corporate insolvencies jump by 40% as problems pile up for businesses and bankruptcies edge up
40%
The number of registered company insolvencies in May 2023 was 2,552, 40% higher than in May 2022 (1,825) in England and Wales.
38%
Insolvencies were driven by Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidations, which were 38% higher than in May last year.
The rising number of insolvencies comes as energy bills remain elevated, borrowing costs jump and the labour market remains tight, pushing up wages.
4%
There were 97 company insolvencies registered in Scotland, 4% higher than the number in May 2022.
5%
Individual bankruptcies edge higher by 5% but breathing space registrations giving individuals protection from creditors rose by 16%.
Source: ONS
In Other News
Evelyn Partners has appointed Craig Dowsett as a financial planning director in the firm’s London office.
He is a chartered financial planner and specialises in working with business owners and families in all areas of their business and personal financial planning.
He joins Evelyn Partners from Vintage Wealth Management Limited where he spent more than seven years working as an Independent Financial Adviser.
Prior to that he was a professional rugby player at Rotherham Titans RUFC and received representative honours for England Students Rugby, as well as full representative honours for Belgium.
From Elsewhere
China seen cutting key lending benchmarks as economy slows (Reuters)
One TikTok at a time: How Kyla Scanlon is making finance fun (CNBC)
Average two-year fixed rate mortgage rises above 6% (Sky News)
Did You See?
They say you only regret what you don’t do. That’s not true – I’ve regretted plenty of stuff I’ve done. But that’s not what this article is about.
One thing I do regret not doing is buying a first-generation iPhone for $599 (which was about £299 at the time) in 2007 and keeping it sealed. Because I read that one recently sold for $63,000 (£50,000).
My colleague Kim told me about the story last week, so I searched it out.
The story goes that Karen Green – a cosmetic tattoo artist in New Jersey – was gifted the iPhone, but she never opened it because she was tied into a Verizon contract, which wasn’t available to iPhones at the time.
