The UK high court ruled in favour of Harbans Kaur after she challenged the succession of the late Karnail Singh’s estate worth more than £1m ($1.2m, €1.1m).

Singh, who died in 2021, left his estate solely to his two sons as he wished to pass it down the “male line”, leaving his wife and four daughters high and dry.

But the female members of the family rejected Singh’s wishes and the widow brought a claim before the high court.

Kaur estimated her late husband’s estate to have had a gross value of £1.9m, but one of her sons claimed it was actually worth £1.2m.

As a result, justice Peel ruled in the widow’s favour awarding her 50% of the net value of the estate, claiming this was a “reasonable provision”, especially considering her income consisted solely of state benefits of around £12,000.

According to Peel, the reasoning for this was that Kaur had an “active role” both in the marriage of 66 years and in the family clothing business, meaning that she should be entitled to a “full and equal contribution”.

‘Fairness will prevail’

Jennifer Ray, partner at law firm DMH Stallard, said: “The high court decision to award Harbans Kaur a 50% share of her late husband’s estate is a strong reminder to those preparing their Wills to note that while they do have complete testamentary freedom, the courts will ensure fairness prevails if those the deceased has a duty to provide for are left out of the Will.

“Claims such as Kaur’s are made under the Inheritance Act 1975 and are increasingly common.

“They can arise in families where there is a cultural tradition of leaving wealth to male descendants or where someone has failed to make a Will and in a variety of other circumstances.

“Claims are not limited to spouses but also include:

• Co-habitees ex-spouses and ex-civil partners;
• Children of the deceased, children of the family and adult children; and/or
• Anybody who may have been wholly or partially maintained by the deceased or supported by the deceased financially before their death.

“To make a claim you need to set out that you have certain needs and that you have a right for these needs to be met by the estate. Such claims must usually be made within six months from the date that the grant of probate being issued. It is therefore important for anyone seeking provision to act quickly.”

The SEC is seeking to enhance protection for customers by adding client assets to current custody rules, which currently apply to client funds and securities.

The proposed changes aim to make sure that advisers and qualified custodians provide the standard custodial protection when maintaining and advised client’s assets. This would include proper segregation of such assets and ensuring they are held in accounts in order to protect consumers in the event of bankruptcy or insolvency.

Under the proposals, reporting and recordkeeping obligations would be extended to include client assets as well.

SEC chair Gary Gensler said: “I support this proposal because, in using important authorities Congress granted us after the financial crisis, it would help ensure that advisers don’t inappropriately use, lose, or abuse investors’ assets.

“In particular, Congress gave us authority to expand the advisers’ custody rule to apply to all assets, not just funds or securities. Further, investors would benefit from the proposal’s changes to enhance the protections that qualified custodians provide.

“Thus, through this expanded custody rule, investors working with advisers would receive the time-tested protections that they deserve for all of their assets, including crypto assets, consistent with what Congress envisioned.”

RIAs and industry professionals will be able to provide feedback on the proposal within 60 days from its publication in the Federal Register.

The model portfolios were created specifically for financial advisers, wealth managers and private banks – and the firm said they will be able to license them free of charge.

The six portfolios are:

• Balanced
• Growth
• Adventurous
• ESG Growth
• Future Trends Themed Equity
• Digital Assets and Crypto

The first three use ETFs to provide exposure to equities, fixed income, commodities and alternative assets.

The ESG Growth portfolio is a multi-asset offering invested in impact and ESG-themed ETFs.

The Future Trends portfolio seeks to invest in ETFs that have exposure to the latest megatrends and themes, and is largely invested in equities across different regions and is run on a higher risk level than the classic portfolios, HANetf said. Some of the holdings include electric vehicle charging infrastructure and uranium mining.

Last, the Digital Assets and Crypto portfolio seeks to invest in exchange traded products (ETPs) that give exposure to cryptocurrencies as well as an ETF with a “pure play exposure to the blockchain and digital assets sector”, the platform added.

Gap in the market

Hector McNeil, co-chief executive and co-founder of HANetf, said: “We are thrilled to introduce this new range of model portfolios. At HANetf, over the past four years, we have issued a range of innovative and market-first ETFs and ETCs. With these model portfolios, we are providing a way for investors to incorporate these ETFs and ETCs into a model of an investible portfolio.

“While the Themed Equity model portfolio and Crypto model portfolio include just HANetf products, our ESG and balanced model portfolios use other providers ETFs for ‘cheap beta’ building blocks for their ‘core’ holdings. HANetf’s more specialist and innovative products are then used as satellite holdings.

“I have long been of the opinion that to catch up with the US ETF market there needs to be more provision of solutions that help investors construct intelligent ETF portfolios taking advantage of the lower costs of ETFs versus mutual funds and other wrappers.

“There is a gap between investors assessing the thousands of ETFs available and coherently building a portfolio. The world of investment is increasingly moving towards democratisation and removal of barriers – the model portfolios are in that vein, being off-the-shelf solutions for investors.”

Tom Selby, head of retirement policy at AJ Bell, wrote to chief secretary to the treasury John Glen urging him to reform the MPAA – which significantly limits a person’s annual contributions from £40,000 ($48,000, €45,000) to £4,000 when they access their pensions.

In his letter, seen by International Adviser, Selby said: “There is a growing body of evidence that the number of people accessing their pensions in response to inflationary pressures is rising.

“The most recent set of retirement income statistics from the FCA show the number of retirement pots accessed for the first time in 2021/22 rose by 18%, from 596,080 to 705,666. HMRC data, meanwhile, tells us £3.6bn of flexible pension withdrawals were made between 1 April and 30 June 2022 – a 23% increase compared to the same period in 2021. This is unsurprising given CPI inflation was rising during that period and stood at 10.1% in September.

“What’s more, many over-55s will be under pressure not just to pay their own bills but to provide financial help to relatives of both younger and older generations. What’s more, the Bank of England is forecasting a substantial increase in the unemployment rate in the coming years – from 3.4% in Q4 2022 to 6.4% in Q4 2025 – further pressuring people’s already squeezed incomes.

“Punishing those who access their retirement pot flexibly with a swingeing cut to their annual allowance is deeply unfair and will leave many hamstrung when looking to rebuild their pension after this crisis.

“Some of those affected will also find themselves in a position where they need to make up for lost time. Savers in their late 50s, in particular, risk being caught in a pensions ‘no-man’s land’, having joined the workforce at a time when defined benefit (DB) provision was being phased out in the private sector and being automatically enrolled into a workplace pension too late in their lives to build a fund sufficient to meet their retirement needs.

“This means they are more likely to need to contribute significant amounts to their pension as they approach retirement to make up for years when they have failed to save enough. The MPAA severely restricts their ability to do so, meaning there is a greater risk they will eventually fall back on the state.”

No change

In the treasury’s response to Selby, seen by IA, economic secretary to the treasury Andrew Griffith admitted government data shows that a quarter of over-55s made annual contributions exceeding £4,000 a year in 2020-21. The number includes those who hadn’t already accessed their pension, he explained.

But Griffith rejected scrapping or even changing the way the MPAA works.

“Across the population of occupational pension savers more broadly, median annual defined contribution pension contributions were around £2,000 in 2020/21,” he added. “These rules therefore minimise the extent to which there is a continuing opportunity for individuals to reduce their tax bill in a way that is not consistent with the spirit of the pensions tax system.

“Other methods to control recycling, such as restricting the tax-free lump sum, were considered when the flexibility provisions were being introduced. However, stakeholders favoured the money purchase annual allowance and the government believes that this is a simpler and more appropriate method than any alternative.”

Is it necessary?

Commenting on Griffith’s response, Selby said: “There is mounting evidence that squeezed savers are being forced to turn to their pension pots to make ends meet during the cost-of-living crisis.

“In the first three months of the 2022/23 tax year, for example, over half a million people withdrew £3.6bn from their retirement pots, a 23% increase versus the same period in 2021/22.

“While we don’t know exactly what has driven this behaviour, the most likely culprit is spiralling inflation. With millions of families struggling to pay the bills at the moment, for many turning to their hard-earned pensions will feel like the only option. There will also inevitably be lots of parents or grandparents who are taking some income from their pensions to help younger generations get by.

“For those who trigger the MPAA by accessing taxable income flexibly from their pension for the first time, the impact on their ability to rebuild their fund will be significant. The MPAA permanently slashes your annual allowance from £40,000 to just £4,000, while also removing your ability to carried forward unused allowances from the three previous tax years.

“The treasury itself admits around 25% of pension savers aged 55 and over contributed above the MPAA in 2020/21. This, combined with the fact many will be forced to turn to their pension in the coming months and years to cover higher living costs, points to a real risk of mass breaches of the MPAA.

“If you exceed your annual allowance, you will be hit with an annual allowance tax charge which recoups the upfront tax relief you received. If you’re unsure about how this might impact you and want some help, you could speak to Pension Wise.

“Keeping this roadblock to saving for retirement in place isn’t just bad for individuals – it runs counter to stated government policy. The government is desperately trying to get older people back into the workforce, yet by setting such a low MPAA it is creating a disincentive by limiting their ability to build or rebuild their pension.

“As a minimum, the chancellor should increase the MPAA to £10,000, the level it was originally established at. However, over the medium term the Treasury should consider whether the MPAA is necessary at all.”

The Gibraltar-headquartered financial services group has hired Tyron Skipper as global head of business development, to expand its partnerships and alliances.

He joins from London-based consultancy firm Witehira, where she spent the last year as managing director.

Brooks Macdonald

The wealth manager has made a trio of senior hires.

Andrew Bennie and Rachael Marsden have become heads of investment management for Manchester and Leeds, respectively. Bennie has been at the company for 13 years, while Marsden joined in 2019.

Additionally, Leanne Barnham will join the business as global head of marketing from Ninety One, where she was head of UK marketing.

LGT Wealth Management

Elliot O’Brien has been promoted to head of business transformation at LGT’s wealth management arm.

He joined the company in 2017 from HSBC Private Bank and was most recently a partner.

Deutsche Bank International Private Bank

The international private banking division of the German banking giant has hired two Asia market heads.

Kevin King and Stella Lau will join as managing director and market heads of north Asia wealth management and will be based in Hong Kong and Singapore, respectively.

King will take on his role in March after he leaves BNP Paribas where he has been head of China; while Lau will join in April from Credit Suisse where she was market leader for China.

Sun Life International

The global insurer has promoted Kate Subak to vice president and chief operating officer.

Most recently, she was at Sun Life Canada, where she led business growth and client experience initiatives.

Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management

Lee McDowell has taken on the position of head of intermediaries, business development at the wealth manager.

He was at Psigma Investment Management for over 12 years, most recently as head of business development.

Standard Chartered

Private banker Shahid Qazi has left Credit Suisse to join Standard Chartered as executive director in Singapore.

He most recently served as vice president at Credit Suisse, after being with the company for nearly seven years.

Freeths

The UK-based law firm has strengthened its private wealth offering with a senior hire.

Tom Gauterin has taken on the role of director and will advise on all aspects of personal tax, including inheritance tax, capital gains tax, income tax and stamp duty land tax.

He was previously at Smith & Williamson, now Evelyn Partners, where he served as a director of private client tax services for nearly three years.

DFSA

The chief executive of the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), Ian Johnston, has been appointed as vice chair of the Africa and Middle East Regional Committee (Amerc) and as a board member of the International Organisation of Securities Commission (Iosco).

He previously served as chair of the joint forum comprising members of Iosco, the Basel Committee and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors.