The regulator says that investors who have been scammed lose an average of 22 years’ pensions savings, equivalent to three times their annual earnings. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced a new campaign in a bid to help retail investors make better and more informed choices. Outlined as part of its 2020/2021 business plan, which sets out the regulator’s objectives for the next one to three years, the FCA says it hopes to help savers make better-informed investment decisions....

UK companies are going into the coming coronavirus lockdown recession in an already weak position, according to Link’s latest Profit Watch report. According to the report, UK corporate profits have fallen in the first three months of 2020. Three out of five companies reported lower profits over the period, the highest proportion since the third quarter of 2009. Overall, just 42% of companies reported their profits rising the first quarter of the year, the lowest proportion since...

While we all know economic growth has collapsed, it is less clear how quickly a recovery will take hold. The economic outlook for the global economy right now can only be described as grim. Across the world, countries have enforced lockdowns in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus. With consumers staying at home, demand for goods and services has fallen, while many businesses have had to temporarily halt operations. The resulting economic contraction is expected to be the worst since at...

Stock markets connect the monetary savings of a society with companies in need of capital to invest and grow. At its best, this allows businesses to expand, powering economic growth and prosperity while providing savers with a return on their money. Historically, the fund management industry has acted as a successful mediator of this process. Funds, being pools of investment, allow investors access to more diversified holdings, while managers do the research and stockpicking. In recent years,...

The state pension triple lock should be scrapped to help pay for the government’s response to the coronavirus crisis, according to the Social Market Foundation (SMF). This, the think tank argues, would ensure any attempt to reduce spending post-crisis is equally shared among generations. The SMF estimates the UK’s government annual deficit could reach £200 billion per year, due to the various spending increases and programmes the government has announced to try and stem the economic fallout...