Skandia has abandoned plans to buy small stakes in IFA firms following conversations with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in which the regulator said it was "uncomfortable" with the idea.
Skandia had previously talked about taking 5%-10% stakes in independent financial adviser businesses. However the regulator has quashed the idea. "The FCA wanted to know more about the correlation [of buying stakes in adviser firms] with distribution. The regulator was uncomfortable with us acquiring a stake and having influence over distribution," a Skandia spokesperson said. Speculation last year suggested Skandia was in discussions with Keith Carby's Caerus to buy a stake in that business, though Carby denied this to IFAonline, saying in October the firm was "not in exit mode". ...
To continue reading this article...
Join Investment Week for free
Signup and gain exclusive members-only insights - all free of charge!
- Unlimited access to real-time news, analysis and opinion from the investment industry, including the Sustainable Hub covering fund news from the ESG space
- Get ahead of regulatory and technological changes affecting fund management
- Important and breaking news stories selected by the editors delivered straight to your inbox each day
- Weekly members-only newsletter with exclusive opinion pieces from leading industry experts
- Be the first to hear about our extensive events schedule and awards programmes
