Welcome to the July Adviser Update.

Progress Continues on Cash Interest Transparency

Our campaign to improve disclosure of retained cash interest by platforms continues at pace. Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen 3 significant actions. First, the FCA ruled that they will push ahead with changing CASS rules to explicitly mention that any cash interest retention must be compatible with Consumer Duty (read here). Second, the FCA launched a new consultation on cost and charges telling platforms that cash interest disclosure should be more prominent. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, John Glen, an MP and member of the Treasury Select Committee (TSC), called for the FCA to do more. This is important because the TSC oversees the FCA. Please see John’s article here and also Andrew’s summary of recent developments on LinkedIn. We are making progress, but the campaign is far from complete. The focus on banning double dipping is a potential distraction to the key issues of disclosure and fair value. The new consultation doesn’t recognise retained cash interest as a charge or mandate sufficient disclosures. On a practical level, we have seen a rise in transfers in from Aviva in June (more than three times the January figure) following their decision to retain cash interest. We know many advisers use Transact and Aviva. Please make sure you are considering cash interest charges in your ongoing suitability analysis.

What's new to TOL

I continue to be excited by the pipeline of new developments on Transact. This month, advisers can now complete chargeable gain calculations for one-off bond withdrawals on Transact Online, with gains presented on both a proportional and segmental basis. The preferred basis can be selected and a withdrawal submitted within a single online instruction. More details are provided in the  TOL - recent enhancement article including a video of the online journey.

Recent Transact Podcast

In our recent podcast, Bella Caridade-Ferreira, Fundscape founder, joins me to discuss the platform market. Bella explains the importance of in-house bonds in driving net flow for platforms. She also talks passionately about the value of owning your own technology versus outsourcing to third parties like FNZ. I would encourage you to listen to the episode.

Dimensional MPS Now Live on Transact

Finally, the Dimensional MPS is now formally live on Transact. More choice and competition is great for advisers and customers. The DIM fee is priced at 6 basis points plus underlying fund costs.

ISA Reform and tax planning considerations

On a less positive note, we are considering our next steps following the announcement that interest on cash in a stocks and shares ISA will be taxed at 22%. Given the uncertainty and queries, we have included an article from our technical team on the ISA Reforms. Whilst the proposed changes bring added complexity to the ISA regime, you can be confident that we will implement the changes required. It is also important to remember that Transact has a cash ISA in addition to a stocks and shares ISA on the platform which provides some optionality for those clients who need to revisit their cash investments ahead of the impending changes. On the topic of changes to the tax regime, we have also included an article on the challenges for personal representatives related to pension benefits and IHT. Please take a look at the seven planning points for advisers to consider.

Changes to residency policy

Having recently reviewed our process for onboarding new clients and our target market, we are making some changes to our residency policy. From the 1 of October 2026 we will only accept new clients that are UK resident (and also UK tax resident) or UK Crown employees. Whilst this update is only applicable to new clients and will not impact existing Transact clients, if an existing client moves abroad, they must let us know immediately of any changes to the countries in which they are tax resident including residential address and citizenship. If you have any questions or want to discuss any specific cases, please contact your Business Development Manager (BDM).

Past and upcoming events

It has been a busy period for Transact events. We held a large adviser CEO roundtable at our offices where we discussed organic growth strategies, agentic AI use cases, approaches to initial fees and the impact of IHT on pensions. Please reach out to me if you would like to attend our next session in November. We also hosted a succession planning roundtable, bringing together 12 sellers, a broker and several buyers to share insights and experiences. The event gave sellers a better understanding of what buyers look for, what makes a firm attractive and how deals are structured. Following its success, we plan to hold another event at our London office later this year. If you'd like to attend, please email successionplanning@integrafin.co.uk. We will be holding Connect events in London, Warrington and Cardiff during October and November, plus a further seven breakfast events later this year. All our in-person regional breakfasts and Connect events are detailed on our events page. There are also several MPS events where you can hear from both BlackRock and our Head of Technical, Mark Fenlon. Dates are detailed in the Transact-BlackRock MPS update.

Thank you for your continued support.