With the weather as it is, it's hard to know whether this article will reach anyone or whether the UK has descended into a post-apocalyptic society based on bartering, but here goes: it's time for the week in news.
1) SJP shows 'snow' sign of slowing down
Lucky Andrew Croft at St James’s Place. Despite figures this week showing FTSE profits for 2017 increasing by nearly a third to £186m following record inflows, the chief executive says customers are happy to line its coffers.
Like everyone else, SJP has had to break down its charges since January’s Mifid II obligations kicked in. But apparently it hasn’t dented customer enthusiasm.
"What our clients tell us through our surveys - and the 2017 survey got more than 40,000 responses - is that 99 per cent thought the service was either excellent, good or reasonable value for money,” Mr Croft said.
"What any adviser in the UK would say, whether or not they are with SJP or on their own, is that what clients value is not all about costs and it is the value they get in the round." Forget about the price tag, as Jessie J would put it.
2) Aviva skating on thin ice
While SJP customers might be happy, advisers using Aviva’s platform are very far from feeling the same way.
Several advisers were in touch with FTAdviser to say they are not getting their adviser charges from the platform, due to an issue that Aviva says it is ‘working hard to resolve’.
Problems began when Aviva for Advisers platform was offline for more days than originally planned in mid-January for upgrade work to allow the platform to move to FNZ Technology Service.
Some advisers who contacted us said they were tens of thousands out of pocket. Aviva apologised, and said that it is working to clear the backlog and will "support advisers to avoid hardship as needs are identified". Every little helps, we suppose.
3) Jupiter and Schroders see flurry of asset growth
It’s not just SJP that posted excellent figures this week. Schroders cited benign market conditions and acquisitions as the reason for a 13 per cent growth in assets under management (AUM).
Net inflows were £9.6bn, compared with £1.1bn for 2016. Schroders said these inflows contributed £24m of revenue, and will contribute £63m a year in future results.
Jupiter, too, announced asset growth. Assets grew by just shy of £10bn to breach £50bn in the year to 31 December 2017.
The increase included a 19 per cent increase in fund management fees to £392m. The increase in fees was 19 per cent in percentage terms.
4) Virgin Money and Friends Life duped by 'flake news'
Forget benign market conditions, others seem to have been indulging in less legal ways to get rich.
Southwark Crown Court heard that businessman Andrew Locke promised cash-strapped pension holders he could release their savings early and then blew £1m of their cash on gambling, holidays and supercars.
He is said to have offered applicants an upfront payment equivalent to half of their pot, with the remainder invested in a sham eco-friendly firms.
Mr Locke, who convinced many financial services organisations included Friends Life and Virgin Money that he was offering a genuine scheme, denied 14 counts of fraud.
The court heard that some of the money was spent on an Audi R8, an Aston Martin Vantage, a Porsche 911, an Audi R5 and a Mercedes B180. Also lots of parking charges, one would assume.
5) Sipp providers face chill wind after £3m lawsuit
Some hope this week that a trial this month might lead to those with worthless self-invested personal pensions (Sipps) getting their money back.
Carey Pensions is facing claims of up to £3m in what solicitors say might be a watershed moment for Sipp claims.
The firm stands accused of working with unregulated introducers to facilitate investments in Store First storage pods, which were unsuitable and are now deemed "worthless". The four day trial, beginning March 19 is being seen as a test case.
It comes at a turning point in respect of the regulatory approach to handling such claims with the FSCS recently declaring it was accepting claims in relation to three Sipp firms, which had accepted unregulated investments through unregulated introducers, for the first time.
