A House of Lords committee has suggested reform to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
As Money Marketing reports the House of Lords Financial Services Regulation Committee has called for sweeping reforms to FOS, warning that its current role as a de facto regulator is undermining certainty, constraining growth and damaging the UK’s international competitiveness.
Some of these criticisms have been levelled before by retail financial services firms and some advisers. Often the Treasury and regulators have been resistant to these arguments. However, there is a bit of a move towards deregulation currently. So it may be one to watch.
New Model Adviser is very good at considering all manner of ownership models across the adviser market. Here it is enabling discussions between advisers that want to stay independent i.e. not join the consolidators.
There was a lot of attention paid to the Spending Review and whether anything is affordable, but this is a significant announcement from the Chancellor Rachel Reeves. The £39bn is the biggest cash injection into social and affordable housing in 50 years.
One big issue however is whether the numbers really add up. Morningstar reports on the challenges faced by UK exporters as US tariffs begin to bite amid a surprising fall in monthly GDP of 0.3%.
With more turmoil in the Middle East, Reuters reports on the impact on oil prices which settle up 7% as Israel and Iran trade air strikes.
Should this be worrying advisers? Professional Adviser reports that the willingness to pay for financial advice has fallen as other options open up. According to Boring Money’s Advice Report 2025, fewer than half of the UK's non-advised investors or cash-only savers with at least £10,000 in cash are prepared to pay for financial advice.
In 2025, just 39% of this cohort were prepared to pay for financial advice, compared to 54% in 2023.
Advisers will not be feeling much pain from this cohort, but it might be of some concern given talk of lots of people using ChatGPT for example.
Finally, I do think this could be of use for those interested in workplace pension reforms. This is a very handy guide from City law firm TLT entitled Pension Schemes Bill 2025: what does it mean for you? - TLT LLP
