Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Tuesday 15 August 2023. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Monzo’s appetite
Challenger banks can promise much but deliver little.
Monzo is certainly not in that category and is on the hunt for a pensions product manager.
In an advertisement the digital bank said the role will see a person lead its newest savings and investment team.
Consolidation trends
Higher interest rates and inflation have slowed merger and acquisition activity.
A recent panel of industry experts warned advisers looking to sell their businesses must be more realistic about valuations as the consolidation market grinds to a halt.
PR consultancy MRM hosted the event in partnership with alternative SME lending specialist ThinCats.
AI reach
The implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) into advice is a “win-win situation” for IFAs.
Multiply co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) Mike Curtis told Money Marketing that he sees AI as a “beneficial to customers and clients” .
This is despite there being a lot of “fear and uncertainty around the technology”.
Quote Of The Day
This is an extraordinary growth in tax debt in a single year
– John Hood, a tax partner with Moore Kingston Smith, on HMRC reporting tax debt has risen £2.5bn in 12-months
Stat Attack
The Office for National Statistics has published its latest average weekly earnings figures.
7.8%
Is the highest regular annual growth rate since comparable records began in 2001
8.2%
Is the annual average regular pay growth for the private sector from April to June 2023. This is the largest annual growth rate seen outside of the coronavirus pandemic period
6.2%
Is the annual average regular pay growth for the public sector over the same period in April to June 2023; a larger annual growth rate was last seen in August to October 2001 at
6.3%
Source: ONS
In Other News
Wealth management firm James Sharp has implemented the MorganAsh Resilience System to report on their customers’ vulnerability to meet Consumer Duty requirements.
James Sharp has been advising clients on investments for over 160 years and is one of Manchester’s oldest financial services firms.
The firm wanted to enhance its existing customer-relationship approach to better evidence the heightened requirements that Consumer Duty brings.
Therefore it decided to upgrade the way it assesses and records vulnerability.
From Elsewhere
Asia stocks stuck as rate cuts ring China alarm (Reuters)
Funding of public services in England skewed against poor areas, says IFS (The Guardian)
The Economic Losers in the New World Order (Wall Street Journal)
Did You See?
Are you feeling the pressure as an adviser?
Adviser Carl Lamb points out the sector is feeling the pressure due to the tough economic environment.
He writes: “One of our battles when winning the hearts and minds of our clients is to convince them we are worth the fees we charge.
“Let’s face it, our fees are significant. We have to be seen to be earning our keep.
“For example, if we’ve sold portfolio management as part of the advice package, the client needs to feel they’ve benefited from the proactive approach and that sitting tight and sticking with a static portfolio with a lower fee structure wouldn’t have been just as good.”
