Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Tuesday 14 October 2025. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Majority of UK charities believe it is important that investments have strong ESG credentials
The majority (92%) of UK charities believe it is important that when selecting investments they have strong Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) credentials.
This is according to research from Rathbones, which also found that over the next three years, 50% of senior charity executives said ESG will become more important when selecting investments, and 47% said it will become significantly more important.
Why now is the time to take back control of your client data
Few advice firms will have been taken by surprise when the FCA sent out its latest data request during the summer, writes Clifton Wealth Partnership chief operating officer Carly Shute.
It came just months after the regulator alluded to an increasingly data-led supervision strategy in the wake of its review of ongoing advice services.
AJ Bell Investcentre integrates with Dynamic Planner ‘to enhance efficiency’
AJ Bell Investcentre has announced the integration of Dynamic Planner which will more seamlessly deliver bulk client valuations from AJ Bell directly into Dynamic Planner.
The integration, which went live on 10 October 2025 and is fully compatible with Dynamic Planner’s digital mobile app, Tram.
Quote Of The Day
The jobs market is an increasingly miserable place to be. Unemployment has been trending up for three years and the rate is now higher than before the pandemic
– Hargreaves Lansdown head of personal finance Sarah Coles on the latest ONS employment figures
Stat Attack
Research from Wealthify reveals a serious knowledge gap in pensions in the UK.
18%
of pension holders admit they do not understand a single pension term.
44%
of pension holders understood the term “Pension pot”, the most understood term.
6%
understand pension acronyms.
27%
understand the term salary sacrifice and 25% annuity.
7%
of pension holders said they know what ESG means, even though it is the most Googled pension-related term, with 15,000 searches a month.
Source: Wealthify
In Other News
SEI has appointment of Emma Skedgel as sales director of defined contribution (DC).
In her new role, Skedgel will be responsible for building and deepening relationships with clients whose employees benefit from the SEI Master Trust.
Skedgel has more than 20 years of pensions industry experience and brings extensive expertise in client service and consultant relationships.
She most recently served as business development director at Legal & General Asset Management and previously held leadership roles at Isio, KPMG, Barclays Wealth Management and Punter Southall.
Canada Life has achieved a financial strength rating of ‘A, Superior’ – the highest accolade possible – across each of its international life companies, from the financial analytics and independent ratings specialist, AKG.
It is the second year that Canada Life International, CLI Institutional, and Canada Life International Assurance (Ireland) DAC, have achieved the ‘A, Superior’ rating.
In addition to overall financial strength, the companies were assessed on several supporting assessment areas, including image and strategy, and business performance.
The assessment areas, known as supporting ratings, were scored out of a possible five stars. Each company achieved the maximum score against all categories.
Canada Life International has sustained five stars for all supporting ratings since 2015.
US, China to roll out tit-for-tat port fees, threatening more turmoil at sea (Reuters)
Revolut’s full UK banking licence held up by concerns over global risk controls (Financial Times)
UK sees 50% spike in major cyberattacks as top firms targeted (Bloomberg)
Did You See?
The UK government will now have to respond to a petition launched by wealth management firm AJ Bell after it passed 10,000 signatures.
Last week, AJ Bell launched the petition calling on chancellor Rachel Reeves to make a public commitment to protect the tax incentives that underpin retirement saving in the UK.
The firm is urging the government to commit to retaining both pension tax relief and tax-free cash — two key incentives central to long-term retirement planning — in their current form for at least the rest of this Parliament.
Ending speculation over potential reforms, particularly around tax-free cash, would allow savers to plan with greater confidence, AJ Bell said.
It added that a commitment to a Pension Tax Lock would also establish a policy position that future governments would be expected to maintain.
The petition has already attracted more than 14,000 signatures. The government responds to all petitions that receive over 10,000 signatures. At 100,000 signatures, petitions are considered for debate in Parliament.
