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2 weeks ago | 
moneymarketing.co.uk | Kevin Carr |Momodou Musa Touray
Instead of starting with large language models, financial advisers should begin with smaller ones, teaching them specific tasks and letting them develop gradually, “like a puppy”, Dynamic Planner’s growth director has insisted. “You feed it knowledge, let it grow with you, and your use of it evolves alongside it, rather than relying on a massive, pre-trained model,” said Rowan Whittington.
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2 weeks ago | 
moneymarketing.co.uk | Momodou Musa Touray |Kevin Carr
Shepherds Friendly has partnered with SimplyBiz in a move aimed at expanding its reach in the intermediary market. The deal will see the mutual’s income protection products added to SimplyBiz’s panel, giving thousands of advisers across the UK access to its Simply Income Protection plan. The partnership forms part of Shepherds Friendly’s broader strategy to grow its footprint among intermediaries.
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3 weeks ago | 
moneymarketing.co.uk | Momodou Musa Touray |Kimberley Dondo |Kevin Carr
MoneySuperMarket has added Scottish Widows to its protection insurance panel, in a move aimed at widening access to life and critical illness cover. The insurer’s products are now available through MoneySuperMarket’s platform, which is powered by LifeSearch’s ‘Buy Now’ technology. The integration allows customers to obtain cover in less than six minutes, provided their responses meet automated eligibility criteria.
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3 weeks ago | 
moneymarketing.co.uk | Darius McQuaid |Kevin Carr |Darius McDermott |David Hall
A retail investor who put £120,000 into the unregulated firm Basset & Gold (B&G) said he has “zero faith” in the FCA after being offered just £200 in compensation. The Complaints Commissioner, set up the the FCA to investigate complaints against it, said it expects to “receive a number of objections” after the decision. Towards the end of May, the FCA apologised to B&G investors and admitted some failings in how it dealt with the case, but did not uphold all complaints made.
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4 weeks ago | 
moneymarketing.co.uk | Momodou Musa Touray |Kevin Carr |Kimberley Dondo
The UK discretionary wealth management market (excluding private banks) has grown to £1.1tn in assets under management, an 11% increase year-on-year, according to Platforum’s latest report. The UK Wealth Management: Market Overview report, which examines key drivers and headwinds across the sector, attributes much of the market’s growth in 2024 to robust investment performance.
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1 month ago | 
moneymarketing.co.uk | Kevin Carr |Momodou Musa Touray
At a recent industry event a question was asked about why protection insurers provide so-called ‘added value services’ on policies like life cover, critical illness and income protection. The premise was they add cost and complexity – and as they are outsourced, they cannot be contractually guaranteed for the life of the policy, often 20, 30 or 40 years.
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Mar 21, 2025 | 
moneymarketing.co.uk | Momodou Musa Touray |Kevin Carr
The Financial Conduct Authority has launched its much-awaited pure protection market study on fair value for consumers. The study, launched today (21 March), will look at how well the distribution of pure protection insurance products is working for consumers.
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Mar 20, 2025 | 
moneymarketing.co.uk | Momodou Musa Touray |Daniel Simpson |Kevin Carr
The Exeter has seen a huge rise in appointments on its member benefits app, HealthWise. The UK health and life insurer said it is experiencing a record increase in usage as more members engagement with the platform. An estimated 10,356 specialist appointments were booked through HealthWise in 2024, an increase of 175% from 2023. The data also shows downloads of the app more than doubled year-on-year, to 14,763 in 2024.
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Mar 18, 2025 | 
moneymarketing.co.uk | Tom Browne |Darius McQuaid |Kevin Carr
Fintel’s results for the year ending 31 December 2024 show that the company’s core revenue jumped 22% to £68.9m, up from £56.6m the previous year. These results, published today (18 March), were fuelled by £15m in revenue from newly acquired businesses, a sharp rise from just £1.5m in 2023. During the year, Fintel completed four acquisitions, investing £16.6m in total, which delivered £7.5m in core revenue. The company’s overall financial position also remains strong.
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Dec 11, 2024 | 
moneymarketing.co.uk | Kevin Carr
It’s a been a busy year for the UK life and health insurance industry, with sales up a bit or down a bit, depending on where you look. And we’ve lost a few insurers – but gained a Financial Conduct Authority market review. There’s been some brilliant work across the sector, including the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries’ Protection Viewpoint, Income Protection Awareness Week, CIExpert’s Critical Thinking report, and some great new products and processes.
