The Personal Finance Society's popular Festival of Financial Planning is set to return later this year and is expected to attract more than 3,000 delegates, making it the UK's largest Financial Planning event.

Standard Life has acquired financial provider Aegon UK for £2bn in a deal that will create one of the country’s largest retirement savings and income businesses with 16m customers.

US investment management giant Franklin Templeton says its launch of a new range of enhanced index funds is part of a push into the UK.

Chartered Financial Planning firm One Four Nine Wealth has acquired York-based Mowatt Financial Planning for an undisclosed amount.

Consumers and businesses could be given greater control over their financial data to help secure better deals through open finance, the FCA claimed today.

West Lancashire Financial Planning firm Acumen Financial Partnership has attracted a strategic investment from accounting and wealth management firm One Point Advisory Services.

The FCA has warned that crooks have been issuing fake letters which purport to have been sent by Sarah Pritchard, the regulator’s deputy chief executive.

Financial Planners and advisers are getting ahead of the impending levy of inheritance tax (IHT) on unused pensions from April next year by using options such as tax wrappers, lifetime gifting and earlier drawdown.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now being used universally across the pensions industry with all members of the Society of Pension Professionals are now using AI, up from nine out of 10, 87%, who said they were using it last year.

Today’s competitive annuity rates mean the payback period is now 14 years on a benchmark £100,000 annuity purchased by a 65-year-old, generating an income of £7,373 a year.