Iestyn Evans

**The hysteria around finance team evolution is ridiculous. 🤯** I just read an article claiming that "Finance teams have five years to adapt to changing demands" (Read it here: [South Wales Argus](https://lnkd.in/eebPEjHb)). Seriously? The *hysteria* about finance transformation is mind-blowing. And yet, there’s no question—adaptation is non-negotiable. But let's cut the fluff. Here’s the undeniable truth: Finance teams *must* innovate, or they'll disintegrate under the variety of tools making their roles obsolete. Consider Finotor: Incorporating it into your finance operations isn’t just a “nice-to-have”; it’s *essential*. This software means FINANCE can shift from being the ‘boring guys’ crunching numbers in the corner, to powerhouse decision-makers steering the future of the business. Use Cases: 1. **Enhanced Financial Analysis:** Say goodbye to manual data entry and hello to data-driven insights available at the click of a button. Imagine making strategic decisions backed up by real-time numbers rather than last quarter’s results. 2. **Streamlined Accounting Processes:** Finotor can automate mundane accounting tasks, freeing up your team to focus on activities that actually add value. Imagine reducing your team’s workload by 40%, giving them time to develop innovative financial strategies. Finance teams, you have **five years** to embed agility deeply into your DNA. The countdown is ticking. Don’t get left behind. 🔗 Interested in taking your finance department to the next level? Let's connect. Franck BRUNET ---------------------- Liked this post? Want to see more? Ring it on my profile 🔔 Connect with me 🔝 Follow me: #franckbrunet #finotor

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The British Business Bank have released the latest update on the performance of the Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) and here are some key stats: - Since the launch of this third version of the scheme (RLS3) in August 2022 a total of just over 7,000 finance facilities totalling £1.15bn from 60 different lenders have been backed by the scheme. The first two iterations of this scheme - which were more generous to borrowers - did a total of just over £4bn. - 73% of the facilities backed by the scheme were loans, 25% Asset finance and the remainder Invoice finance/overdrafts. - 87% of the facilities went to businesses with a turnover of less than £5m and about 70% of facilities were issued to businesses outside of London and the South East. - The institution using the scheme the most were Funding Circle with £185m backed by the scheme across 2,461 loans. - For context, the next closest were Close brothers with £155m over 629 facilities and then HSBC with £155m over 577 facilities. After that it's a gap back to the others and we see a lot of institutions used it for a total of £10m or less. - Interesting to me is the low usage by the High Street Banks (apart from HSBC). Lloyds only secured £25m, NatWest £22m, Barclays £19m and Santander less than £2m. Given the relative size of these institutions and their market share in business banking, I would have thought they would have featured more prominently on this list. - To date, claims against the scheme's guarantee have been just £570,000 or about 0.05% of facilities issued but with most loans running over 5 years, it's a bit early to celebrate this. - The scheme ends on June 30th 2024 but will be replaced by the Growth Guarantee Scheme (GGS) which is effectively the same thing with a new name. We expect most of the current RLS lender to offer finance under GGS. In summary, the scheme has been very successful but it seems to be focused on loans to smaller businesses and mainly utilised by non-bank lenders when issuing loans (with some asset finance). For our part we've seen a steady stream of applications over the past 2 years, most of which were placed with non-bank lenders, and feel the scheme has certainly helped businesses get finance where they otherwise might not. The link to the report is in the comments. #rls #ggs #businessfinance #bbb #businessloans #smefinance

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💡On 1st August 2024, the FCA introduced new rules for firms wishing to purchase investment research. Previously, the costs of investment research were bundled together with the costs of other services, typically execution services, provided by investment research providers, making the cost of research opaque and potentially unfair to clients. MiFID II requirements then introduced the concept of “unbundling”, whereby the costs of research were explicit and purchased separately from any other service from the provider and which were purchased either from the firm’s own resources or from a research payment account funded by the firm’s clients. Read more to learn about the additional option the FCA will introduce here 👉 https://lnkd.in/ey4W7ddi #Compliance #MiFIDII #FCA #Regulations #Complyport #FinancialServices #investment #investmentresearch

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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has released its Consultation Paper CP24/7, detailing proposals for Payment Optionality for Investment Research. These proposals aim to provide UK buyside firms with more flexibility in purchasing investment research, resulting from the Edinburgh Reforms launched in December 2022. Derived from the recommendations of the Investment Research Review, the central proposal of the Consultation, is to allow joint payments for research and execution services, provided that certain requirements are met by firms, which we have termed as ‘guardrails’. Martin Lovick, Director of Capital Markets takes us through these so-called “guardrails”, which include policies, written agreements with providers, budgeting, and client disclosures. Read more here https://lnkd.in/erDy5Fbx #FCA #investmentresearch #financialservices #compliance #capitalmarkets #firms #cosegic

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If anyone needs truly data-driven advice, analysis, or support during a transaction, K3 Advantage should be at the top of your list. 🔍 Their unique approach to financial due diligence delivers deeper insights, reduces risk, and speeds up decision-making. In today’s fast-paced M&A landscape, having data-backed clarity is key to making the right moves. K3 Advantage offers exactly that!

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Some important analysis and practical proposals for a way forward here…well done to Schroders and Pensions Management Institute (PMI) for pulling this together.

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Results from the BoE 2024 desk-based stress test suggest that the UK banking system is in a strong position to support households and businesses even if economic, financial and business conditions turned out to be substantially worse than expected. Net interest margins are anticipated to remain broadly stable, with widespread use of hedging practices likely to reduce banks’ sensitivity to expected falls in interest rates. The FPC has maintained the UK countercyclical capital buffer (CCyB) rate at its neutral setting of 2%. https://lnkd.in/ebVB6mMR

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https://lnkd.in/ebrS6N-K Bank of England cuts interest rates to 5% for first reduction since March 2020. Welcome news for borrowers - businesses, investors and variable rate mortgage holders.. Savers not so much - time to switch savings to investments? Whilst it was a close call the markets had predicted it and had built in the rate cut - to hold them would have been damaging to market sentiment.. Expect some product repricing over the coming weeks for new applications! #commercialfinance #developmentfinance #bridgingfinance #playfairfinance

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How do Lenders assess Ltd Company Director Income? There are two ways lender’s assess income for Ltd Company Directors, they will either take your Salary plus Dividends OR they will take your Share of the Company Profit plus your Salary. If as a Director you take a small Salary and Dividends and leave profit in the business until you need it, if you go to a lender that assess on Salary and Dividends then this could result in you not being able to borrow what you need, as they aren’t using your full range of income, in cases like these you will need a lender that takes your share of the Company Profit PLUS your Salary – this could result in a much higher borrowing capacity for you. 💜 Helping people buy their homes and build their property portfolio. Follow for more information and tips on how to navigate the Mortgage maze and protect your home, lifestyle and loved ones from the challenges life can throw at us. 💚 YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE. 💜 We work from a comprehensive panel which is representative of the whole of the market. 💚 Debt Consolidation: Think carefully before securing other debts against your home. Consolidating unsecured debt may reduce your outgoings now, but you may end up paying more overall. 💜 Most Buy-to-Let Mortgages are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

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There is much to be commended in the UK Chancellor’s #AutumnBudget on the subject of #investment. The Budget Statement notes that “The government will work in #partnership with the private sector to further increase investment.” It will be interesting to see how the detail of that partnership works out over the term of this parliament, but it is a welcome acknowledgement of the importance of private and public sector #workingtogether. I have been saying - across successive budgets in recent years - that incentives do not make the business case for any particular investment. Instead, they help to accelerate sound investment decisions and possibly give that final boost to investment confidence that gets more decisions over the line sooner. The same is true of tax structures such as further exploring #fullexpensing of #leased assets which we’re pleased to see the Budget has retained. We certainly expect the importance of private sector finance to increase in the market where we operate. For instance, manufacturers are under pressure to upgrade to digitalised production systems – which are more efficient and future-proof – but they often need #flexiblefinancing to ease that transition. The same goes for our financially pressurised healthcare system. So, here's to strong #collaboration between public and private to the nation’s #economic benefit.

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The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has responded to the dramatic shift in DB schemes’ fortunes, highlighting that many schemes can now consider different endgame options. Comparing the text of TPR’s 2024 funding statement with the text of its 2023 statement, the differences are clear. ▪️ Half of schemes are now expected to exceed estimated buy-out funding levels. ▪️ The new text presents running on, consolidation and buy-out as potential long-term targets for trustees and sponsors to consider. ▪️ Running on a scheme and generating additional surplus could be in the best financial interests of pension scheme members and benefit sponsors. We believe that for many schemes, running on for the long term will be an attractive option – and in the best interests of members, sponsors and the wider UK economy. To find out more, please visit our microsite on the future of DB schemes: https://bit.ly/4d1vvn1 Read the TPR statement here: https://bit.ly/3WqB5cP Capital at risk. For professional investors only.

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Calling all smaller asset managers. The Independent Investment Management Initiative will be responding to the Financial Conduct Authority’s Call for Input on Consumer Duty. In their webinar this morning, Consumer Duty - 1 year on, they highlighted their desire to engage with practitioners on the TCD requirements with a view to staying focused on what is really required to improve customer outcomes. Culture is key and we know this isn’t a one-time piece of regulation but rather a long-term expectation of firms to continually focus on putting customers first. I look forward to hearing from you on your views. #consumerduty #culture

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Interesting comment from the former pensions minister about quality of data and pensions dashboards. I spend about half of my week thinking about pensions dashboards, and honestly data quality is the least of my concerns right now. What would be higher on my own list? - Huge practical challenges about how to actually comply with regulations, because DB pension schemes are complex with many moving parts, sometimes across multiple providers, while regulations assume they are simple and can be neatly summarised in a couple of figures - Lack of final standards, which mean that pension schemes and providers are still in the dark on crucial aspects of what they need to do and how they need to do it. Even data standards that tell schemes what they need to send to dashboards are still changing - Tens (maybe hundreds) of millions of pounds being spent by schemes preparing calculations that have never been needed before, don't actually help members, and serve no purpose other than to meet a legislative requirement - The idea that on a given day, perhaps in 2026, 40m individuals will be given access to dashboards on the same day, leading to a massive spike in demand which will cause huge problems and lead to the most newsworthy story on dashboards being about how they cannot cope with initial demand - Concern about members misunderstanding what they see, leading to bad decisions and complaints. Also concerns about potential for cyber incidents and “scam” dashboards, as well as genuine dashboards pushing paid-for services to unsuspecting members in order to recoup their investment There is a longer list, but I’ll stick with that for now. Don’t get me wrong – despite my gripe list I’m 100% supportive of pensions dashboards. It’s absolutely the right policy, and is essential to bring pensions into the digital age. And data quality is essential for them to succeed. But the implication that data is the main challenge facing the project is overly simplistic. I expect the former minister recognises this, and the comments in the article are no doubt just a small part of what was discussed in a longer interview. But greater recognition of the wider issues, and the unresolved challenges caused by the regulatory environment itself, would be refreshing. https://lnkd.in/e6qGZrDE

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For those who may not have already come across it, APRA’s Prudential Practice Guide SPG530 Investment Governance provides quite a detailed perspective on its expectations for a Registerable Superannuation Entity. Worth a read.

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Bringing pensions into the remit of inheritance tax is huge but arguably fixes an anomaly. Pensions were always intended to provide for income not for passing on wealth. The devil will be in the detail as there is scope for quite some complexity when combined with the Lump Sum Death Benefit Allowance rules #budget2024

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