As children headed back to school, early September is a time for wading through an avalanche of unread emails and buying new stationery.
Amid all this fun, you might have missed what has been going on this week, but don’t panic: it is time for the week in news.
1) Sorry seems to be the hardest word
Neil Woodford apologised to his investors this week for some of the recent duff performance his funds have endured.
Mr Woodford’s £10bn Woodford Equity Income fund has lost 1.5 per cent over the past year, with most of the underperformance coming in the past six months.
But before you think this moment of humility would last any longer, Mr Woodford confirmed he was sticking to his view that the consensus view of the world is wrong.
Mr Woodford said that the performance of the FTSE 100 this year has been driven by a tiny number of stocks, with eight shares delivering 50.5 per cent of FTSE All Share index performance or 4.15 per cent in total return terms year to date.
2) IFA fought the law, and the law won
A financial adviser who forged investment documentation relating to his clients has been sentenced to seven years in prison.
Martin Rigney, 68, invested his clients into a high-risk, unregulated collective investment scheme at a time when most of them were elderly and this type of investment was not suitable for them.
The case came to the attention of police in June 2012 following an investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority into Rigney and his company Topps Rogers Financial Management.
Rigney, of King Edwards, Rivelin, Sheffield, was arrested and charged with forgery.
3) What’s up with WhatsApp?
This week experts have told the Financial Conduct Authority to get with it and embrace technology.
During the Fintech Conference of the Personal Investment Management and Financial Advice Association, a panel of technology experts addressed how clients would soon expect their advisers to communicate with them in different ways.
They said the FCA would soon have to recognise “the reality on the ground” and allow advisers to communicate through chat services like WhatsApp.
Douglas Orr, chief executive of messaging platform Novastone, said the use of email in Asia is already becoming redundant in favour of services like WhatsApp and WeChat.
This came as research by Intelliflo found financial advisers were putting themselves at risk by using social media, with fewer than half of firms having written policies about using sites such as Facebook and Linkedin.
4) Adviser loses job with a bang
A financial adviser is suing Sony for £10,000 after suffering burns when his mobile phone "exploded" in his hands.
Tom Collins, 36, received third degree burns when his Sony Xperia Z2 burst into a "fireball" as he texted his girlfriend.
The financial adviser was rushed to hospital after the skin was stripped from all five fingers on his right hand.
The excruciating three-month recovery has seen him lose his job and girlfriend.
Mr Collins, from Bedford, said: "It was the worst part of my life, it was a terrible time, it was awful, especially being on my own.
"I was in a hospital waiting room waiting for my burns to get dressed and there's a young girl sitting there with a phone and I'm thinking 'you don't realise the danger'."
5) Down in the data dumps
It seems like a massive new piece of regulation might be about to be introduced without all the implications being cleared up – who would have thought it?
Some networks have expressed concerns that incoming data protection rules could leave advisers unable to defend themselves against Financial Ombudsman Service complaints.
The General Data Protection Regulation is a European law which comes into effect in May 2018.
It sets out a number of new powers and rights, including the right to erasure, which means an individual can request the deletion of personal data relating to them.
But there are concerns this could lead to financial advisers being forced to delete information at the request of their clients, only to face complaints being made to the Financial Ombudsman Service which they are unable to defend.
Maybe some sort of long stop might be a good idea? Someone should campaign for that…
damian.fantato@ft.com
