The FCA plans to freeze its fees for the smallest 71% of financial services firms in response to the Coronavirus outbreak.

The Personal Finance Society has welcomed the FCA’s freezing of 2020/21 fees for small firms but warned that the Coronavirus outbreak could force up compensation costs and hit advice firms hard without major reform.

The number of financial advisers adopting Centralised Retirement Propositions (CRPs) is expected to rise significantly from 48% to 71% over the next 12 months, according to new research.

A pension review firm has found that more than half of its clients who plan to access cash from their pensions intend to do so as soon as they reach 55.

The Pensions Dashboards Programme, a body backed by the Money and Pensions Service, said in a progress report today that it is moving forward but has deferred two major full consultations due to the Coronavirus crisis.

The FCA has delayed a raft of imminent changes to its pension rules for six months or more in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak.

Wealth manager Brown Shipley has completed its takeover of Cambridge and Norwich-based Financial Planner NW Brown to create a new East Anglian hub.

The Financial Ombudsman Service is to increase its maximum compensation award for 2020/21 to £355,000 per case, a £5,000 increase on 2019.

The directors of the Lloyds Banking Group, which includes Scottish Widows and half of new Financial Planning arm Schroders Personal Wealth, have waived their 2020 bonuses.

The FCA has banned a rogue financial adviser who cheated dozens of victims, many of them vulnerable, and is now serving an eight year sentence in prison.