Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Monday 10 July, 2023. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
New COO for Old Mill
Old Mill has appointed Adil Taha as its new chief operating officer to ramp up growth at the business and develop its operational infrastructure.
Old Mill is currently almost halfway through its ambitious five-year plan to double in size. Taha has been brought on board to work alongside chief executive Kevin Whitmarsh and the board to lead the business through the next three years of growth, and beyond.
Cyber attacks
How good is your personal and professional cyber security? I have discovered mine could be better after speaking to experts for this cover feature. And so could the IT culture at advice businesses that make themselves a tempting target for tech-savvy fraudsters.
Although there has not yet been a highly public hack of a major UK advice firm, the chance of it happening is great. Major attacks have occurred in other sectors, such as pensions administration, healthcare and airlines, both at home and abroad.
Quote Of The Day
The recognition of the central role of long term investment is the foundation of successful policy.
– Chris Cummings, chief executive of the Investment Association, comments in response to the Chancellor’s first Mansion House speech today (10 July)
Stat Attack
With the pay gap reaching 8.3% in April 2022, women in the UK still don’t take home an income comparable to their male counterparts. But what’s the impact of the gender pay gap on women’s savings?
To investigate this, money.co.uk savings statistics analysed government data for ISA (individual savings account) and private pension wealth to determine how much more women needed to save to close the gender savings gap.
| Age | UK men’s average total savings | UK women’s average total savings | Savings difference | % Savings difference |
| UK Average | £126,285 | £82,719 | £43,567 | -34.5% |
| 16-24 | £7,776 | £5,770 | £2,006 | -25.8% |
| 24-34 | £17,022 | £13,539 | £3,483 | -20.5% |
| 45-44 | £46,462 | £35,732 | £10,730 | -23.1% |
| 45-54 | £119,194 | £77,799 | £41,395 | -34.7% |
| 55-64 | £259,645 | £180,926 | £78,719 | -30.3% |
| 65+ | £307,612 | £182,545 | £125,067 | -40.7% |
Source: money.co.uk
In Other News
The Wesleyan Foundation has completed the first phase of its partnership with the Small Woods charity, which has seen more than four hundred new trees planted across the UK.
Small Woods, the Shropshire-based charity, promotes the environmental, social, economic and cultural benefits of woodlands, with a focus on sustainable woodland management and delivering outdoor activities that promote better health and wellbeing.
Its partnership with the Wesleyan Foundation began in 2020 with a £25,000 donation that supported five tree planting projects from the Welsh coast to the Scottish Highlands.
These projects have now been completed, but the relationship is ongoing, and more projects are set to be announced.
Square Mile Investment Services has launched the Square Mile Passive Portfolios – a range of six low-cost investment solutions to match a spectrum of risk/return profiles from ‘Defensive’ to ‘Speculative’.
These portfolios combine the asset allocation expertise and robust funds analysis of Square Mile’s Investment Management and Research & Consulting teams in an investment proposition with an OCF of 0.25%.
Portfolio construction will draw on the strategic asset allocation that Square Mile’s Investment Management team applies to its broader range of bespoke portfolio solutions with tactical tilts to take advantage of shorter-term opportunities.
Each portfolio will hold around 20 funds across UK government and corporate debt, international fixed income, global high yield and UK and international equities.
They will invest in passive strategies offered by leading asset management houses and all portfolio holdings will be rated Recommended by Square Mile’s 21-strong Research & Consulting team.
From Elsewhere
Big US banks to report largest jump in loan losses since pandemic (Financial Times)
Andrea Leadsom held shares in Barclays when questioning bank’s ex-boss (The Guardian)
South Korea asks banks to prepare $4bn to support credit union (Reuters)
Did You See?
I never forgot the words of my old boss at Professional Pensions Helen Morrissey for young journalists: “Don’t rush to become an editor.”
After a year of being acting editor at Money Marketing I now know what she means. Being any editor but especially the main one is an education on human nature.
I would liken the role to being in a full contact sport combined with riding on a rollercoaster blindfolded (at times). There are many sharp turns, the occasional inversion and you never know what curve ball will be thrown at you. Some of these balls you will catch, others you will miss, and several will hit you.
As journalists, and especially editors, are short of time, we need information that is stripped down to the essentials.
So here are 40 lessons I have learned on the job that I hope any budding editor or manager may find useful…
