Skandia

Skandia UK sales director Steve Powell is to retire at the end of the year after 23 years with the group.

Skandia has appointed Standard Life Investments' (SLI's) head of regional client marketing Alistair Campbell as head of investment marketing.

Old Mutual Wealth has reported a pre-tax profit increase of 14% for the first half of the year to £108m, driven by a surge in gross inflows over the period.

Skandia, part of Old Mutual Wealth, is to outsource its administration to global IT and outsourcing firm International Financial Data Services (IFDS) in a 20-year contract.

Former Skandia marketing head Nick Dixon is to join Aegon UK as investment director, Investment Week understands.

The summer months are always the ideal time to take stock of the investment climate year-to-date - and to consider prospects for the second half.

THE BIQ QUESTION

The majority of advisers are preparing to carry out extra platform due diligence following the publication of the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) platform paper.

Hargreaves Lansdown is planning to secure "as good if not better" terms with fund groups on super clean share classes as Standard Life, after the latter announced it had secured preferential deals with 15 fund providers.

Axa Wealth has appointed Skandia's former head of proposition Graham Bentley as its interim head of fund group relations.