Nearly one-in-five Defined Benefit Scheme members given access to free financial advice have transferred out of their scheme to access flexible retirement options available through a defined contribution (DC) pot, according to research by Willis Towers Watson.

Brooks Macdonald Asset Management has announced a “strategic alliance” with Castlegate Financial Management, the East Midlands-based firm of Chartered Financial Planners.

The FCA says complaints about financial services firms dipped by 1.4% in the second half of 2015 although it still topped 2.1m. It also says firms will be required to publish complaints data on their websites from next February.

Morningstar UK, the research and fund data provider, has announced the funds and fund group winners of its 2016 UK Fund Awards.

Pension Freedom cash is increasingly being channelled into bricks and mortar which has become the most popular place to invest for people taking out money from their pension.

Seven in 10 investment ISA portfolio are in sectors with top risk ratings of Five to Seven – even though research shows only 9% of UK adults rate their appetites for risk as being this high.

MPS on the Work and Pensions Commitee are to re-open their inquiry into auto-enrolment to assess the impact the Lifetime ISA (LISA) announced in the Budget will have on auto-enrolment.

More than four in ten (44%) Scottish savers squirrel away more now than two years ago, compared to a national average of 41% but one in five (21%) are saving only for the short term, while just 16% are focusing on the longer-term future.

NS&I is reducing the interest rates on five of its variable rate products and will also also be changing the fixed interest component offered to Index-linked Savings Certificates customers whose investments are maturing.

Sales of annuities have unexpectedly picked up in recent months, according to the ABI in a report published one year after the introduction of the Pension Freedoms.