September 23 news from your local Pension Advisors

September 23 news from your local Pension Advisors

• 1^st September saw the launch of the new money laundering controls on crypto asset transfers in the UK, known as the “Travel Rule”. First muted back in July 2022 the changes have now come into force. The requirement to comply with the money laundering regulations saw many firms opt out of the crypto market saying that it was too difficult to implement.
• Investment firm Abrdn have fallen out of the FTSE 100 index. Since the merger between Aberdeen and Standard Life back in 2017 the value of the shares has fallen 54%
• The FCA will investigate the “value for money” provided by savings accounts offered by the nine biggest banks in the UK. The report will be published in October.
• Nearly 40% of people are using their savings to pay the bills according to the latest research (IFA Magazine 26/8/23) and 90% are actively now managing their outgoings.
• According to LV a third of people will not have paid their mortgage off before they are 65. Currently 90% have paid it off before retirement. But according to local pension advisors many had to use their pensions to make the final payment.
• The triple lock pension guarantee is expected to add £900 to the state pension next year. However, that means that another 650,000 pensioners will be dragged into paying income tax. Taking the overall number of tax paying pensioners to over 9 million.
• The Institute for Financial Studies (IFS) has calculated that the pensions triple lock guarantee cost the treasury £11 billion last year and that the cost could rise to £45 billion by 2050.
• This could increase even further if life expectancy continues to improve. This year there were almost 14,000 centurions in the UK. Up over 25% on the previous 10 years. With the number set to increase to nearly 40,000 by 2025.
• According to the FCA their initiative to ban pension cold calling has had a positive effect. Data shows that the number of people being contacted about their pensions has fallen from 20% in 2017 to less than 7% in 2022. That equates to 6.5 million people who are not being targeted with potential pension scams. A good result.
• Sadly, the number of people who lost money through pension scams hit an all-time high of 1,595 last year, at a cost of £24 million. An average loss of £16,000 per scam.
• The UK economy shrank by 0.5% in July and at the same time unemployment increased slightly to 4.3%
• Shawbrook Bank announced that it had seen a 55% increase in the number of cash ISA’s being opened in the first months of this year up to May.
• Employers will now have to pay pension contributions on every pound their employees earn as a result of new changes to the autoenrollment pension system. Local pension advisors estimate that this will increase pension contributions by £2 billion a year.
• Inflation fell to 6.7% in August, down 0.1%.
• Online Bank Monzo set to launch an investment platform using Blackrock. Apparently there are over 200,000 customers signed up to invest via the Monzo App after its launch in a few weeks time.
• The Bank of England maintained interest rates at 5.25% despite analysts suggesting that they would be increased.