United Kingdom: Wealth & Asset Management

The FCA has ended its grace period for Consumer Duty compliance and is now actively using supervisory and enforcement powers to ensure firms deliver good consumer outcomes. With 11 open investigations spanning insurance, pensions, wealth management, and other sectors, plus 382 supervisory interventions in the last financial year, regulators are scrutinizing whether firms have truly embedded Consumer Duty frameworks into their operations. Fair value assessments, vulnerability support, and outcomes monitoring

A postnuptial agreement is an agreement made after a couple has married or entered into a civil partnership. It sets out how they intend their finances and assets to be treated if their relationship later ends. Postnuptial agreements can address many of the same issues as prenuptial agreements, including property, business interests, investments, pensions, inherited wealth and other financial assets. The key difference is timing: a prenuptial agreement is made before marriage or civil partnership, while a postnuptial agreement is made afterwards.

Establishing a trust requires transferring legal ownership and control of assets, but settlors often seek ways to retain some influence over their wealth. This analysis explores the delicate balance between maintaining appropriate involvement in trust arrangements and preserving their legal effectiveness, examining the mechanisms available and the significant risks that arise when control is retained too extensively.

Gary Stevenson has taken the case for a UK wealth tax from YouTube to his recent Channel 4 documentary, How to Get Filthy Rich. The Labour government continues to face pressure to shift more of the tax burden from work towards assets and accumulated wealth, even though a comprehensive wealth tax is not currently government policy.

Navigating divorce becomes significantly more complex when substantial wealth, business interests, or international assets are involved. This comprehensive guide examines the critical considerations for high net worth couples, from valuing business holdings and property portfolios to addressing concerns about hidden assets and exploring alternatives to traditional court proceedings.

In many family businesses, there is a clear line of sight over the company’s finances. Performance is tracked closely, decisions are tested against strategy, and risk is actively managed. What sits outside the business is often far less defined.

Investment managers are navigating a transformed fundraising landscape where success depends on more than performance metrics. This analysis examines how product innovation, customised solutions, and alternative capital-raising strategies are reshaping the relationship between managers and investors in an increasingly competitive environment.

Grave goods are objects placed in burials to accompany the dead, and they offer important evidence of how past societies understood death, status, and the afterlife. In Neolithic cultures, such items often included pottery, tools, ornaments, and food offerings, suggesting both practical and symbolic concerns for the deceased

Travers Smith's 5th annual Alternative Insights Summit explored how political upheaval, pension fund reform, and the push toward individual investor access are reshaping the alternative asset management landscape. Industry leaders debated whether UK pension funds can catch up to their Canadian and Australian counterparts, and whether opening private markets to retail investors presents opportunity or unacceptable risk.