Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Friday 5 May, 2023. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Platforms failing advisers?
It is one week to go until MMI Leeds on Thursday 11 May and ahead of his appearance at the conference Ola Abdul, CEO of Fundment, talks about where platforms have failed advisers.
As technology continues to advance rapidly, platforms must be able to integrate seamlessly with other systems and services to provide users with a more efficient and streamlined experience.
Summer school for aspiring advisers
Leeds- based advice firm Progeny has announced it will be hosting a summer school programme for 16 to 18-year-olds that will offer an “insight” into financial planning.
The summer school will offer skill-based sessions to help prepare students for the world of work, as well as CV writing and interview skills workshops.
Progeny held its first summer school in 2022 which it deemed “successful”.
Quote Of The Day
The Government’s new strategy proposal, and particularly the launch of a dedicated National Fraud Squad, is a significant development to combat fraud in the UK. Organised crime groups are just that, organised, nimble and international and as such we are witnessing large-scale fraud attacks that are not only targeting individuals, but also corporates.
–Zoe Newman, global co-head of financial investigations, commented on the government fraud strategy announcement.
Stat Attack
Seventy years on from the crowning of Queen Elizabeth II, her son Charles III will ascend to the throne on Saturday 6 May. The coronation will mark the beginning of a reign that looks far different at the start to that of his mother’s.
130x
House hunters on the eve of King Charles’ coronation will be paying a princely sum for their new home in comparison to those 70 years ago. The average house price today is 130x higher today than in 1953.
30 years
House prices maintained relatively flat for the first 10 years of the Queen’s reign but have seen sharp rises in the last 30 years.
15 million
Home ownership is also considerably higher than the last time that Britain had a king. The nation has been transformed from a nation of renters to a nation of homeowners, broadly, with 15 million of us owning our home compared to 4 million in 1952.
1876
However, to go back to the last time homes were as expensive relative to wages as they are today, you would have to travel back in time to 1876, when Queen Victoria wore the crown. Currently, the average British home is approximately 9x wages, which is more than double the ratio in 1952.
Source: M&G Investments
In Other News
The Exeter has published its income protection claims data for 2022, revealing that £9.9 million was paid to members last year.
It said it paid out on 92% of new claims received from its members. The most common reason for claims were musculoskeletal conditions (40%), followed by COVID-19 (16%), and hip or knee conditions (7%).
The mutual made 1,336 final decisions on claims in 2022, slightly higher than the previous year. the insurer said where it could not pay out (107 claims in total), the most common reason was due to misrepresentation.
The Exeter’s data also shows that the average age of claimants was just 36 years old on its Income First product, compared to 48 years old on its legacy products.
In addition, the average claim duration for a full-term policy was 96 weeks, compared to 83 weeks for limited benefit policies.
The Exeter also shared that its longest running claim in payment has been paid for over 25 years, with over £500,000 paid out in that time.
Aviva has announced that it will pay a further £47 million to eligible private medical insurance customers as it completes its COVID-19 Pledge to customers.
The insurer said it has paid out more than £128 million in total for private medical insurance claims disruption during the pandemic. This includes the £81 million that was paid to customers in 2022.
The figure represents Aviva’s final assessment of the difference between expected claims costs and actual claims costs for the period of claims monitored, from 1 March 2020 to 31 December 2022, when some treatments and procedures were delayed rather than cancelled.
The final payment includes a 20% increase as outlined in Aviva’s COVID-19 Pledge update in June last year.
For individual customers the payment including the 20% increase will be equivalent to around 6 weeks’ worth of their annual premium and for SME customers the payment will be equivalent to around 5 weeks’ worth of their annual premium.
Large corporate clients will not get a second payment as the equivalent value Pledge was fulfilled for this portfolio in 2022 through the first payment.
The insurer said customers and clients who paid a premium across the period 1 March 2020 to 31 March 2021 will be eligible for a payment, even if they no longer hold a policy
Wealthtime has been rated ‘Gold’ by STAR for its SIPP transfer processing timescales. The platform provider is one of only two firms this year to have received the gold rating.
Wealthtime has been awarded a Gold STAR Accreditation, across all performance metrics, covering the transfer processes and customer communication principles.
It also received a Silver rating for its ISA and GIA transfer services.
STAR is the cross-industry initiative shaping and promoting good practice in transfers. The annual accreditation is designed to measure, recognise, and accredit transfer performance.
Three STAR Accreditation levels of bronze, silver and gold are set through industry collaborations and designed to reward performance and encourage improved performance.
Wealthtime CEO Patrick Mill said: “We’ve optimised our processes to help reduce transfer times where we can influence them, which includes doing everything in our power to help ceding companies speed up their processes. It’s great to be recognised for our efforts, but we appreciate there is still work to be done with transfers and every sector in the industry needs to do its part to improve.”
Facebook and WhatsApp owner urged by UK bank to act on fraud as scams soar (The Guardian)
BA owner raises profit guidance as it sees capacity at 97% of pre-pandemic level (Sky News)
Did You See?
Andy Bell has written a thought-provoking piece on why Isas need radical reform.
He writes: “In an ideal world, I’d like to see the UK move to a single annual allowance for all, rather than the multiple versions savers are currently forced to navigate.
“It is not just pensions that have been bedevilled by creeping complexity in recent years, however. Isas, favoured by millions of savers not just for their flexibility and tax-efficiency but also their simplicity, are at risk of falling into the same trap as pensions.
“As a result of incremental interventions by successive governments, we now have six variations of Isas which all aim to cater for slightly different customer needs.”
Read more here:
