Since we're diligent journalists, let's have a look at what happened. The answer is not a lot, but here's the week in news anyway.
1) Without a care in the world
The government is considering the creation of a Care Isa to address the problems with funding social care costs, adding this to the increasingly long list of issues Whitehall seems to think can be solved with an Isa. Next up is surely the Brexit Isa.
The idea of a Care Isa, which would be exempt from inheritance tax, was criticised pretty widely, though that doesn't mean it won't see the light of day.
Experts warned it would only serve "a small minority of wealthy people", with Sir Steve Webb, director of policy at Royal London and former pensions minister, highlighting that 19 out of 20 estates pay no inheritance tax at all, meaning this tax break would be "irrelevant" to most people.
It later emerged such a product would only be used by a quarter of UK adults, with the majority favouring a pension-led option.
Providers also warned that introducing a Care Isa could prove costly as uptake may be too small to prove a significant business opportunity.
2) Advisers join the order of the phoenix
Unfortunately there's nothing magic about joining this phoenix club, because fears over regulatory risk involved with defined benefit (DB) transfers and a lack of professional indemnity cover have pushed financial advice firms to consider phoenixing.
Henry Blunt, managing director of Retiring IFA, which specialises in matching potential buyers with advisory vendors, expressed concern this week at the number of small businesses that were considering closing their old firm and starting again because they feared future liabilities over DB transfers.
According to Mr Blunt, the "one or two dodgy" players in the DB market, who have carried out transfers without due diligence and proper assessment of client suitability have caused everyone else to suffer.
This is especially the case since the regulatory attitude from The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) seems to be that the default position is DB transfers are not suitable, he said.
3) Barnett in the dog house over foul performance
Things will certainly feel...ruff...for fund manager Mark Barnett at the moment but we're sure he won't be hounded out of the industry because he found himself on Bestinvest’s "spot the dog" list of underperforming funds
The list is made up of funds which have both failed to beat their benchmark and fallen by at least 5 per cent over three years.
Mr Barnett succeeded Neil Woodford as manager of the £9bn Invesco High Income fund, which has returned 10 per cent over the past three years, compared with 25 per cent for the IA UK All Companies sector over the same time period.
Meanwhile, his £4bn Invesco Perpetual Income fund, which returned 8 per cent over the past three years compared to the same sector, was also on the list.
A total of 58 funds made the list, more than twice as many as the previous edition, with five Invesco funds represented, the same number as Aberdeen Standard Investments, though the amount of capital held in the Invesco funds is larger.
4) Bad news for equity release advisers
An overwhelming majority of people feel they could take out an equity release plan without talking to an adviser, according to research conducted by Moneyfacts.
The research found 81 per cent of respondents aged 55 or above felt they did not need to speak to an adviser in order to take up an equity release plan.
This group was made up of more than a quarter of respondents - 29 per cent - who did not trust an adviser and 8 per cent who thought advice would be too expensive, while 44 per cent thought they could handle it on their own.
Only 19 per cent of those surveyed would seek out a financial adviser to take out an equity release plan.
5) Good news for ambulance chasers
The FCA has said it will not extend Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) coverage to claims management companies (CMCs) when they come under its scope next year.
CMCs will be regulated by the FCA from Monday 1 April 2019 and will come under the jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service (Fos), but the FCA has said they will not be covered by the FSCS and so will not contribute towards its costs.
The FCA said it would not extend FSCS cover to consumers of CMCs at present, but it may review the position in the future if there is evidence of significant consumer harm.
With regards to calculating the fees CMCs will pay towards the FCA and the Fos, the regulator said it would be creating new fee blocks exclusively for this type of firm.
damian.fantato@ft.com
