Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Thursday 24 October 2024. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Value of ‘lost’ pension pots hits £31bn
The total value of ‘lost’ pension pots is now estimated to be £31.1bn, new data published by the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) reveals.
This has risen by £4.5bn, from £26.6bn in 2022.
Almost 3.3 million pension pots are now considered lost, containing an average sum of £9,470.
Diary of an aspiring adviser
In this ‘Diary of an aspiring adviser’ column, Almond Financial paraplanner Ryan Sharpe recalls feeling imposter syndrome in their former career as a scientist when someone at an international conference said they though their work was pointless.
“I’m grateful my experience since changing to the advice profession has been one of night and day,” said Sharpe.
“Whenever I have interacted with people in the wider industry, whether in a random email, at a conference or picking their brain over a coffee, I have been met with overwhelmingly helpful, friendly responses.”
Wealthtime platform upgrade
Wealthtime has partnered with tech firm Wipro and software provider GBST on its platform technology upgrade.
The partnership will see the Wealthtime and Wealthtime Classic platforms brought together under one brand on a significantly enhanced platform.
Wipro and GBST will employ a joint co-delivery model to provide end-to-end platform services.
Quote Of The Day
Given the severity of the pandemic, we were always likely to see an improvement in life expectancy from the darkest days of 2020
– Stephen Lowe, group communications director at Just Group, comments on figures published by ONS reveal a bounce back in life expectancy in 2021-23.
Stat Attack
UK dividends fell to £25.6bn in the third quarter of 2024, according to the latest Dividend Monitor published by global financial services company Computershare.
£25.6bn
The amount UK dividends fell to during the third quarter.
8.1%
This was down 8.1% on a headline basis.
£25.3bn
Regular dividends, which exclude one-off special dividends, were down 3.5% to £25.3bn on a constant-currency basis.
4.5%
Median (or typical) growth at the company level was 4.5%.
3.6%
Mid-cap companies posted better underlying growth than the top 100 (4.4%) firms, reflecting ‘greater sensitivity to a resilient UK economy’.
Source: Computershare
In Other News
The Income Protection Task Force (IPTF) has announced its plans for 2025.
Next year will see the organisation restructure including the introduction of a Board to provide professional oversight.
Andrew Wibberley will step down as co-chair after four years, with Jo Miller becoming managing director and board chair, and Vicky Churcher becoming executive director and vice chair.
Commenting on his departure, Wibberley said: “In the last four years the shift from people working on IP because they felt they ought to, to people suffering FOMO if they’re not involved, has been great to see. Most importantly, this is translating into more people protecting their incomes, which is a fantastic thing.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the results of the next exciting things coming out of the IPTF and those sales continuing to grow.”
The plans outlined will also see the continuation of some of the organisation’s key work, including 7Advisers, IPAW, workstream meetings and the return of the Let’s Talk IP podcast.
Additionally, the group outlined plans for several projects for the year ahead focused on the organisation’s key objectives: education, collaboration and insight.
The news follows a busy year for IPTF so far, which has seen the continuation of the 7Advisers project, a celebration of the 7Families ten-year anniversary, the launching of the Let’s Talk IP podcast and profile of an income protection customer and the hosting of another Income Protection Action Week.
Reeves to announce major change to fiscal rules releasing £50bn for spending (The Guardian)
Nvidia CEO targets more India growth through fresh partnerships (Bloomberg)
Barclays third-quarter profit beats forecasts with 18% rise (Reuters)
Did You See?
M&G has launched its first sustainable corporate bond strategy in collaboration with responsAbility, the Swiss-based asset manager.
The M&G (Lux) responsAbility Sustainable Solutions Bond Fund has been designed following active engagement with institutional and wholesale investors seeking sustainable active fixed-income strategies.
The fund, which is classified as Article 9 under the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, will leverage M&G’s deep credit expertise and responsAbility’s long-standing track record on impact and sustainable investing.
It will be co-managed by Mario Eisenegger and Ben Lord, who are long-standing members of M&G’s €161bn global fixed-income investment division.
