Before the move to Morningstar, Bishun spent over three years as a senior investment solutions director at Brooks Macdonald, and has held roles at BlackRock, Barclays, Baring, and Citi. He worked at Barclays for 10 years, beginning as assistant portfolio manager and working his way to head of investment management for Channel Islands.

Launched in 2022, the Wealth Management Solutions group is designed to bridge Morningstar Wealth’s investment management with partner firms, which it hopes will “help advisers build centralised investment propositions”.

Ben Lester, head of distribution at Morningstar Wealth, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Chris to the Morningstar Wealth team. He brings a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge and we’re looking forward to working with him to enhance the service proposition we deliver to advice firms.”

This article was written for our sister title Portfolio Adviser

Others, however, believe the decision is more nuanced, and say the problem lies in the regulatory design of the FCA’s Consumer Duty and Assessment of Value regulation as opposed to with the platforms themselves.

In July this year – the same month that the Consumer Duty rules first came into force – Fidelity took the decision to restrict investors from buying into certain funds and trusts on its platform which it deemed to be poor value.

The FCA’s 121-page paper on Consumer Duty states that companies “must take proactive and reactive steps to avoid causing harm to customers through their conduct, products, or services… their design, terms and conditions, marketing, [sales] and support”. It added that this should be implemented with a degree of “reasonableness”, meaning the rules and guidance “must be interpreted in line with the standard that could reasonably be expected of a prudent firm”.

The first product that Fidelity shielded new investors from buying into was the RIT Capital Partners investment trust which, at time of writing, is trading on a 24.1% discount to its net asset value. Residing in the IT Flexible Investment sector, the investment company has lost 16.1% during the past 12 months, 3.9% over three years and 1.7% over five years. However, it has gained 71.9% in the past decade. Its listed ongoing charges figure – which is applied to the underlying net asset value of its portfolio – stands at 1.6%.

Since then, there have been a further 14 funds and investment trusts that Fidelity platform clients can no longer access – although a small number of these restrictions come from the investment firms themselves, for example Royal London Global Equity Select’s units are now limited issue.

Funds and trusts which Fidelity has proactively prevented investors from buying into include: MIGO Opportunities Trust, AVI Global Trust, Momentum Multi-Asset Value Trust, CT Global Managed Portfolio Income, LF Odey Opus, LF Brook Continental European, Jupiter Fund of Investment Trusts, four different share classes of VT Argonaut European Alpha, Abrdn Private Equity Opportunities investment trust, Premier Miton Worldwide Opportunities and GVQ Opportunities. It has also prevented clients from buying into any Valu-Trac Epic funds.

In October this year, Interactive Investor decided to follow in Fidelity’s footsteps and prevent investors from buying into certain products they deemed to be poor value, although the firm does not provide a published list of these products. Other platforms that are willing to restrict investments into some funds and trusts include Aviva, Barclays Smart Investor and HSBC.

To read more, visit the December edition of  Portfolio Adviser Magazine

On 1 May 2023, Barclays Wealth Management & Investments (WM&I) was transferred from Barclays UK to its Consumer, Cards and Payments (CC&P) division, creating a combined private bank and wealth management business.

The bank said: “The combination seeks to improve customer and client experience and create business synergies.”

The business transferred includes around £28bn ($36bn, €33bn) of invested assets, generating annualised income of around £200m.

This comes a year after Barclays expanded its private banking offering in Africa to target the continent’s high net worth market. In 2021, Barclays boosted its private banking arm after setting up in Spain.

The bank said that the rise in this type of scam coincides with the rising popularity of ‘finfluencers’ – content creators who give advice on financial investments on social media.

It also found that 77% of the scams take place on tech platforms, such as social media sites.

Barclays also pointed out that these scams pose a serious threat to students. Its data revealed that the average amount lost to investment scams by young people is £3,692 ($,€) – almost the same amount that student loans start at in England (£3,698).

Across all ages, investment scams account for 33% of money lost to scams, according to the bank.

It highlighted that one way scammers target people is by impersonating celebrities or public figures on social media, and endorsing fake investment opportunities. Its research found that 30% of Brits have been targeted by impersonation scams.

Ross Martin, head of digital safety at Barclays, said: “Young people earning income early in their careers may want to invest their money, and social media can offer many helpful tips and tricks on how to manage your money.

“However, it’s important to remember that not everyone offering an investment opportunity is genuine, and they could actually be a scammer. That’s why it’s so important to do due diligence before investing your money.”

The Saltus Wealth Index Report surveyed more than 2,000 people in the UK who had investable assets of £250,000 ($315,000, €289,000) or more, and found that 79% are financially supporting their adult children in some way.

Nearly one-in-four are supporting mortgage payments, while a further 20% are helping with rent.

While it is understandable that these individuals want to help their children, many are sacrificing their own financial future in order to do this.

According to the report, 39% of respondents said that rising mortgage rates are already putting a strain on their own cash flow but are still willing to provide support.

This has resulted in 22% having to reduce their own pension contributions, while 20% have had to sell another asset.

Chris Allen, director at Arbuthnot Latham, said: “Should individuals over-commit from a monetary perspective to support their families in some scenarios this could cause them to not have the asset base to support their desired level of expenditure in retirement and they could be forced to downsize property which not be a course of action they want to explore in their retirement.”

Clare Francis, director of savings and investments at Barclays Wealth, also warned that careful consideration needs to be taken by parents when helping their children so that they don’t risk their own financial security if they are over generous.

“The last thing you want to do is find yourself struggling to make ends meet in the future because you’ve given too much away,” she added.

Planning

Everyone wants the best for their children and their family regardless of what age they are, therefore planning ahead and having a good understanding of your financial situation can help mitigate financial strain later down the line.

James Wallace, chartered financial planner at Fairstone, said: “Putting your own oxygen mask on first before helping others applies equally in planning for your own financial future as it does at 36,000. That’s why it’s critical to understand what having ‘enough’ means to you.”

He added that a starting point is for individuals to get an in depth understanding of their financial situation, which will then allow them to know what they need and how they can safely provide financial assistance without impacting their financial future.

Barclays Wealth’s Francis also pointed out that many people don’t prioritise retirement planning until it’s too late.

“The risk is they then discover they haven’t accumulated enough money meaning they’ll either have to work longer or make lifestyle adjustments,” she said.

The knock-on effect of saving earlier can result in early retirement, a higher expenditure in retirement and having more financial freedom to support family members retirement.

Arbuthnot Latham’s Allen suggested: “Cash flow forecasting is the best tool to allow parents the comfort of knowing to what level they can help children while maintaining their standard of living.”

This can include “running different retirement scenarios to assess what is a realistic level to support children while enjoying the lifestyle in retirement parents want”, he added.