Assets under management for the wealth management arm of WH Ireland rose 18% to £2.18bn for the year ending 31 March as the group returned a full year profit for the first time in five years and revealed it was seeking more acquisitions.

Financial advisory firm Frenkel Topping has raised £13m to fund its merger and personal injury and clinical negligence firm acquisition strategy.

The number of people using flexible pension withdrawals rose by 6% in the first quarter of 2021 to 383,000, according to the latest HMRC data. 

Latest data from the FCA has revealed that in the second half of 2020 the number of complaints received by financial firms - excluding PPI complaints - rose by 3.3% to 1.93m.

The FCA is to consult on stronger rules on special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), an increasingly popular takeover vehicle. 

Schroders Personal Wealth (SPW), the Financial Planning joint venture launched by Schroders and Lloyds Bank, has expanded into Northern Ireland and hired two advisers in the region.

The Financial Services Bill, which will help shape UK financial services regulation in the coming decades following Brexit, received Royal Assent yesterday (29 April).

Financial Planners have told Financial Planning Today that they welcome the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) proposals to strengthen financial promotion rules for high-risk investments, but also suggested more work should be directed at banning other unregulated speculative investments.

Options UK Personal Pensions (formerly Carey UK Pensions) has sought permission from the Supreme Court to appeal the recent judgment by the Court of Appeal in the long-running and pivotal Adams v Carey SIPP case.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said it is considering expanding the classification of high-risk investments to include more types of investments which should be subject to marketing restrictions in its proposals to strengthen financial promotion rules.