AJ Bell’s platform customer numbers increased by 66,000 over the past year to nearly 542,000, up almost 14%.

Nicholas Grogan CFP, Chartered FCSI of Liverpool-based PWS Financial Consulting, has won the prestigious Certified Financial Planner Professional award from the CISI.

The State Pension is expected to rise next year by 4.1% under the Triple Lock guarantee.

The Financial Conduct Authority is to review soaring insurance premiums for home and motor insurance and the practice in some markets of paying for insurance in instalments.

Net outflows have slowed for Financial Planner and wealth manager Brooks Macdonald with the firm reporting net outflows of £0.1bn for its first quarter ended 30 September.

Fast growing Financial Planning group Perspective has completed four new acquisitions, pushing its total number of takeovers to 15 this year and adding £350m in assets under advice.

Financial Planner and wealth manager Quilter has reported core net inflows of £1,507m for the quarter ended 30 September.

CPI inflation unexpectedly spiked upwards last month to 2.3% from a low of 1.7% the previous month, ONS reported today.

Lower fuel and transport costs helped cut CPI inflation in the 12 months to September to 1.7% from 2.2% in August.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) - the industry’s consumer compensation safety-net - has declared six firms in default over the past two months.