I don’t think I was the only one a little surprised by the Chancellor’s decision this week to order a significant review of at least part of the Consumer Duty, which was only fully introduced in 2023.

I attended the launch in central London this week of the Personal Finance Society’s £1m drive to find new blood for the profession and tackle the worrying long-term decline in new entrants. It was a sobering morning.

The sheer scale of the financial scams and cons facing the UK came home to me this week with the publication of the FCA’s latest report on the many suspect financial promotions it had tackled over the past year.

Our annual Financial Planning Today survey is under way and the early findings are already revealing some surprising findings, including the depth of confidence in the profession despite the economic headwinds and concerns about the rising cost of regulation.

Financial Planners, of course, concentrate on the better off. They need to focus on people able and willing to pay their fees and that’s perfectly reasonable, indeed it's a business requirement.

A new offering from wealth manager and Financial Planner Foster Denovo caught my eye this week as one possible pointer to the promised ‘financial guidance’ future.

Today the FCA announced it was spearheading a global crackdown on rogue social media influencers. About time many will say.

One of the big Financial Planning stories of the week was the merger announced of two of the more significant players in the wealth management / Financial Planning space: Mattioli Woods and Kingswood.

I have to confess that I am in two minds on the rapid spread of AI into regulation, despite assurances from the FCA that it will help cut down on admin and generally be a boon.

The reappointment of FCA CEO Nikhil Rathi this week for a further five year term was a surprise to some who expected a new face at the helm of the UK’s leading financial regulator.