Regulation

Almost 1.6 million more consumers contacted the Money Advice Service (MAS) in the last three months than in the same period last year, latest figures show.

All seven products providers featured on Sesame's ‘focussed' restricted advice panel have denied breaching the regulator's rules on inducements, after the network was fined £1.6m last week for selling the coveted spots to the highest bidders.

Sesame, the UK's largest network of financial advisers, has been fined £1.6m by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for setting up a pay-to-play scheme that "undermined the ban on commission payments brought in by the Retail Distribution Review (RDR)"....

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched an Innovation Hub, part of Project Innovate, which now open and offering support to ‘innovators' in the financial services industry.

Lloyds Banking Group has set aside an extra £900m in payment protection insurance (PPI) provisions and confirmed it will cut 9,000 jobs as part of a switch from high street to digital banking.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has discontinued an investigation into whether a distribution deal between Partnership Assurance and an advisory firm contravened its rules on incentives, according to the provider.

The Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) has reported a profit for the second time since 2010, although surplus figures dipped by almost £90,000.

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is determined to shed its reputation as an anti-adviser body, its chief executive has said.

The Personal Finance Society (PFS) has written to the Money Advice Service (MAS) and The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) to suggest they change their names to better reflect the services they offer.

There was a 61% jump in the number of financial promotions withdrawn or amended by the FCA in the last year, from 204 in 2012/13 up to 328 in 2013/14, according to Bovill, the specialist financial services regulatory consultancy.