Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Thursday 16 May 2024. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Plan to tackle financial vulnerability
Standard Life is calling on the financial-services sector to come together to confront heightened levels of customer vulnerability.
The call to action coincides with this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week, running from 13 to 19 May.
Recent research from Standard Life shows almost half (47%) of UK adults have characteristics of vulnerability and a quarter (24%) have low capability in dealing with their financial affairs.
Don’t let existing clients down
Supporting existing clients, particularly protection policyholders, not only makes good business sense but is the right thing to do, writes Emma Thomson, head of protection development at Sesame Bankhall Group.
Even before Consumer Duty requirements to ensure good customer outcomes and avoid foreseeable harm, there was a duty of care to ensure that cover remained suitable and, most importantly, clients were able to claim when they needed to.
Yet many advisers do not have an effective strategy in place to actively support existing clients.
Investors and wealth managers turn attentions to yields
Professional investors and wealth managers are switching their focus to yields over the next 12 months, a new study has found.
According to the research from MPG, which runs the Melius Fixed Income Fund, they expect yields in the fixed-income sector to increase over the year.
However, they are less positive about the next six months.
Quote Of The Day
Stock market bulls may have gotten another Goldilocks report, this time as inflation was mostly in-line with expectations
– Bret Kenwell, US analyst at investment platform eToro, discusses the US CPI report
Stat Attack
New research from Scottish Widows has revealed that more than three quarters (78%) of retirees have already dipped into their pension pots by the time they retire.
52%
of the 78% who claim early, more than half withdraw funds five years before their Selected Retirement Age (SRA).
21%
opt to start taking out funds 9-10 years before they retire.
20%
wait until their SRA before drawing down on their pension.
£47,000
The average amount a customer withdraws by age 65.
Source: Scottish Widows
In Other News
Global financial services provider Apex Group has appointed a new global head of operational transformation.
Ken Fullerton will lead the operational delivery and improvement team focusing on client-driven technology and business process initiatives and improvements.
He will also oversee the global service centres.
Based in New York, this strategic role emphasises Apex Group’s mission to transform the financial-services industry by driving growth with technology.
Before joining Apex Group, Fullerton spent close to 20 years at SS&C GlobeOp.
He most recently served as the chief operating officer of the fund administration business and was responsible for all functional areas, from investor services, operations and fund accounting to client-relationship management and technology across the global organisation, including the Americas, Europe and APAC regions.
Speaking on his appointment, Fullerton said: “I’m thrilled to be a part of Apex Group at a time when they’re driving positive change throughout the industry. We pride ourselves on being a single source solution and the fact that we keep investing in the business from a people and technology perspective demonstrates the global breadth of the offering – which is exactly why I wanted to join the team.”
China’s biggest banks launch first sales of special loss-absorbing debt (Financial Times)
Yen escapes intervention zone helped by decline in US yields (Bloomberg)
Don’t panic, says stock market boss as firms leave UK (BBC News)
Did You See?
A new report has indicated that the UK is in danger of losing its pole position on the Global Green Finance Index.
Over two thirds (69%) of businesses agreed that lack of certainty over sustainability policy and regulation is limiting this type of investment in the UK, according to the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) Financing the Future: Financial Services Report.
The report also found that 65% of businesses have already planned to move investments out of the UK to a market that is more supportive of sustainability goals.
However, 83% said that the UK is still seen as the top market for sustainable finance activity.
