“Thank God for the cellphone video camera”
So spoke the lawyer representing Freddie Gray’s family at a news conference this morning. “could not talk, could not breathe” reads the sign on a protestor’s cardboard placard. I’m not talking about...
View ArticleA Transparency Taskforce?
Andy Agethangelou – hero of this blog A Transparency Taskforce? Sounds good doesn’t it? Echoes of the Falklands, of Maggie v the Argies (don’t mention the Belgrano) But the task force that will meet...
View ArticleIf it’s not in the price- I’m not paying it.
All week I have been beset by those nasty little extras that add up. On Norwegian Airlines everything is extra, water, food , headsets , blankets – the duty free is more expensive than Tescos. It...
View ArticleThe inter web of trust
My father did his national service in the navy. I remember him telling me why those in the navy saluted with a closed palm and those in the army with an open palm. According to my Dad, those in the...
View ArticleHas a robot changed advice for ever?
financial surfing Below are the questions I’ve been asked to address next month at the Pension and Benefit Conference. I hope that when robots go to grammar school, they’ll be able to do a little...
View Article“Why does the garbage man not understand his pension”- Tom Hibbard- KAS Bank
“I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university” – Albert Einstein This quote has really resonated with me of late as I find myself reading...
View ArticleA transparent press is an honest press.
The “Breaking News” in Britain’s financial press is that City AM is tearing down the divide between editorial and advertising and giving the people who pay for their site, the chance to run a section...
View ArticleWill the transparency Zeitgeist pervade the FCA?
The Financial Times is reporting that the Association of Member Nominated Trustees are ready to exercise muscle to get to the bottom of what we are paying for charges. This is really good news ; but...
View ArticleTactical transparency from the Investment Association
The Investment Association’s terms of reference Professional Pensions reports that the Investment Association (IA) have appointed senior pension figures to advise the it on a new disclosure code for...
View ArticlePlaying the personality card
Of all the financial myths that remain unchallenged, the myth of personality is least challenged and most lethal. For it allows the congregation of expert panels/committees/boards – stuffed with...
View ArticleWhat kind of transparency would that be- Sir?
This from the BBC MPs on the Energy Committee have written to the new business secretary to demand no change to the current rules on price comparison websites. As part of its recent report on the...
View ArticleCon Keating on the Investment Association, Transparency and the Overton Window
Regular readers will be aware of my views on independent oversight of fund costs and charges. To me it’s critical to a reliable measure for Value for Money; without knowing we are getting value for...
View ArticlePENSIONS TRANSPARENCY REACHES PARLIAMENT
Lux in tenebris The roof leaks, the walls are crumbling but the House of Commons is still the seat of British Government. Andy Agethangelou has used the momentum he and his team have built up to set...
View ArticleValue for money – we have won a battle not a war.
The FCA Consultation Paper CP16/30″Transaction cost disclosure in workplace pensions” is a very good piece of work and allows IGCs and Trustees to know what their members are paying to have their...
View ArticlePower to the people (now we’re taking the risk).
If the People’s Pension , is really the people’s pension, why aren’t the people who are members being told what they are paying for membership? For some months, I have been saying privately to the...
View ArticleA triumph for “transparency”– the FCA’s Market Study
“Where costs are less transparent, we have identified some specific examples where firms place less emphasis on controlling them” FCA Asset management Market Study 7.54 (p135) Yesterday I wrote...
View ArticlePeople’s Pension admits undisclosed charge-hike.
Last week I published an article “Power to the People”, calling on People’s pension to tell their members what their asset managers were charging for stock lending on trustee’s assets. People’s...
View Article“What next!?” @NEST
Maybe it’s because I’m still in India and have been mysticised, but I cannot believe that NEST’s most recent announcement has not caused a major outcry. I am not talking about the shelving of NEST’s...
View ArticleCost disclosure now! No more workplace pension NDAs!
Following Julius Pursaill’s excellent piece on value for money yesterday, I’m following up with some practical thoughts. The blog yesterday triggered a meeting with an IGC chair who probed me on the...
View ArticleLifetime pricing – a broken model?
Thomas Philippon – economist and financial explorer Of all the orthodoxies within pension insurance, the concept of “lifetime pricing” is the most sacred. What Lifetime pricing means for an...
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