Sir Steve, the former pensions minister, now director of policy at Royal London, said one IFA he spoke to had been told they could only obtain PI renewal if their annual premium was increased nearly fourfold from £13,000 to £50,000, and they agreed to an excess on each individual defined benefit (DB) transfer case of £35,000.
4) Act now or be sorry later
Advisers have been urged to put their clients' life policies in trust or risk facing claims from unhappy clients.
Writing a policy in trust can protect it from unwanted probate and tax charges. Although payments from life insurance policies don't incur income tax, they could still be hit with an inheritance tax charge if they are not in trust and are counted towards the estate.
Probate fees are set to rise after the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) decided in November to pursue a banded structure for those fees, prompting experts to warn now was a good time to reconsider the arrangement of a client's life cover.
5) Aiming high
Lloyds Banking Group is reported to be in the market for 700 financial advisers as it prepares to launch its joint venture with Schroders.
Last year the two companies agreed to launch a financial planning business during the middle of 2019 with the ambition of becoming one of the top three such companies within the next five years.
FTAdviser's sister publication, the Financial Times, has reported that Lloyds is looking to hire 700 financial advisers and nearly double its assets under management from £13bn to £25bn.
The growth is expected to be mainly organic, coming largely from Lloyds's existing customer base, but acquisitions may also be in the pipeline.
