Author: Aisha Mahmood

Liontrust has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Hawksmoor Investment Management in what the Liontrust Hawksmoor acquisition deal would bring approximately £1.9 billion in assets under management and advice onto the group’s platform, according to a regulatory announcement filed with Investegate.Hawksmoor Investment Management is a subsidiary of Shackleton Advisers. The proposed transaction covers the fund management and model portfolio services (MPS) business carried out by Hawksmoor Fund Management and Hawksmoor Investment Services, two distinct but complementary operations that together serve advisers seeking outsourced investment solutions.Structure of the Liontrust Hawksmoor acquisition dealThe consideration has been structured in three parts. An…

Prime Minister Andy Burnham confirmed on 29 September that the triple lock double lock 2030 transition is now government policy: from April 2030, state pension rises will be linked to the higher of inflation or 2.5%, with earnings retained as a longer-run benchmark rather than an annual floor. The government has not yet set out the precise mechanics of how that earnings link will operate in practice.The Cost Pressure Behind the Triple Lock Double Lock 2030 DecisionThe affordability argument has sharpened considerably. According to BBC News, the triple lock is now costing £15.5 billion a year, treble the original estimates…

Platform transfer delays are costing advisers an average of four hours a week in administrative effort, and the wider damage to client relationships is becoming impossible to overlook. The industry is now responding with collective commitments, though the real test will lie in execution rather than in the signing of charters. The Scale of the Problem With Platform Transfer Delays Research from Parmenion puts numbers to what many advisers have known anecdotally for years. Its report found that 54% of advisers said poor platform service had affected their business, while 90% had apologised to clients because of platform-related issues. Four…

AJ Bell has added the Standard Life International Bond to its Investcentre platform, offering advisers a fresh tool for tax and estate planning within a General Investment Account wrapper. The AJ Bell Standard Life bond allows clients to switch investments without triggering a capital gains tax liability, and to withdraw up to 5% of premiums paid each year with tax deferred until a later date, subject to individual circumstances.For clients in, or approaching, drawdown, that combination of flexibility and deferral can matter considerably. The ability to rebalance a portfolio without an immediate tax charge is particularly useful for anyone managing…

Peter Docherty’s Nucleus departure will take effect at the end of the year, the chief transformation officer confirmed via a LinkedIn post, closing a chapter that spanned almost four years and two distinct roles within the group.Docherty said he was leaving after a ‘significant milestone’ had been reached, though he did not specify the milestone publicly. Reflecting on his tenure, he attributed the period’s achievements to colleagues and external partners: ‘The achievements across that period were due to the amazing colleagues that I had the opportunity to work with at both Curtis Banks and Nucleus, alongside the partners that were…

Annuity sales rose in 2025/26 across every major product category, with Pensions Age Magazine reporting that total annuity purchases increased by 13.2% to 100,144 over the year. For retirees building a reliable income strategy, the breadth of that growth matters as much as the headline number.Enhanced Annuities Cross a Meaningful ThresholdCanada Life’s analysis of the latest Financial Conduct Authority retirement income market data shows that enhanced annuity sales increased 25% to 52,764, up from 42,339. Enhanced annuities now account for more than half of all annuity sales for the first time. These products offer higher income rates to retirees with…

Assets held in discretionary model portfolio services (MPS) are on course to pass £250 billion before the end of 2026, with Platforum reporting that MPS assets under management reached more than £240 billion at the end of June, up 12.5% during the first half of the year and 19.7% year-on-year. MPS Assets Under Management: The Growth Trajectory The pace of growth is worth pausing on. According to The Wealth Mosaic, MPS assets under management stood at £214 billion at the end of 2025, which means the market added roughly £26 billion in the first six months of 2026 alone. Platforum…

AI chatbot financial advice is changing the texture of client meetings in ways that have received little attention: not by replacing advisers, but by inserting a permanent, argumentative third party into the relationship. An adviser writing on the Boring Money website described the experience with some candour. Several clients had arrived with information gathered from ChatGPT, close to accusing him of giving incorrect guidance. He would spend time correcting the errors, only for the client to feed his corrections back into the chatbot and return with a fresh round of questions. ‘Recently this has been sapping the life out of…

HMRC inheritance tax underpayment by wealthy individuals has reached a suspected £392m for the year to 31 March 2026, a rise of 14% from £344m a year earlier, according to TWM Solicitors, and that figure sits within a broader picture of intensifying HMRC enforcement that investors and executors would do well to take seriously.For savers approaching retirement or managing an estate, the direction of travel here matters as much as the headline number. HMRC’s analytical capabilities are expanding, and the agency’s definition of ‘wealthy’ is wider than many assume. According to Money Marketing, HMRC classifies someone as wealthy if they…