AI-focused fintech and money app Plum has received FCA approval to offer Targeted Support to clients through its investment arm Saveable Limited.  

Women are more likely to consider using their pension provider’s guided retirement option than their male counterparts, according to new research.

Nearly one in five consumers (19%) would seek answers to financial questions from a human financial adviser but the figure is only 1% higher than the number who would go to an AI assistant first, according to new research.

HSBC is considering cutting its UK financial adviser numbers by up to two thirds as part of a move towards more digital products.

Two thirds (64%) of Financial Planning firms say they are growing by taking on new clients, according to a new report.

Aviva has added technology from Ortec Finance to help Financial Planners working in its Aviva Financial Advice proposition deliver Targeted Support.

Targeted support could boost the number of savers and investors seeking regulated financial advice, reckons Plymouth Financial Planner Continuum.

Wealth manager and Financial Planner Quilter has launched Targeted Support and it is offering it through its Quilter Invest arm.

Most financial advice firm (78% or 4 in 5) have raised their minimum investable assets for clients over the past year, with the average minimum client assets threshold up to £168,000.

After receiving FCA approval to offer Targeted Support, retirement provider Legal & General said it will focus the new service on customers whose pension savings are fully invested in cash.

Mutual provider Royal London has launched its Targeted Support ISA service to mobile app customers from today.

Almost two-thirds of wealth management and financial advice firms (63%) do not currently plan to offer Targeted Support.

Targeted Support has arrived this week as planned and it has only taken a few days for two major companies, Royal London and Quilter,to join the fray. Many more will follow.

The direction of travel in the advice sector is becoming evident as we move away from a single, comprehensive advice model towards a more segmented, multi-layered ecosystem of support, writes Tom Nelson of advice business Lifetime Financial Management.

Wealth manager Quilter has received permission from the FCA to offer Targeted Support to consumers just days after it was launched by the regulator.

Mutual provider Royal London has become one of the first retail finance firms to offer Targeted Support to consumers, a day after Targeted Support was allowed by the FCA.

Today sees the official launch of the Financial Conduct Authority’s new Targeted Support regime, enabling banks, pension providers and other financial firms that are authorised for Targeted Support to provide financial suggestions designed for groups of consumers.

The FCA has published a number of guideline examples for financial firms designing the consumer segments for Targeted Support.

In just a few weeks the FCA’s much-heralded Targeted Support changes will arrive (on 6 April) and the advice world will change for the better - at least everyone hopes it does, because nothing is certain.

Nearly half of IFAs (46%) believe that the introduction of Targeted Support from April will make consumers more likely to seek independent financial advice, according to a new poll from Opinium.