Introduction
Dear Adviser,
As I’m sure you will agree, the Rachel Reeves Budget will increase demand for high quality ongoing financial advice from clients. The days of simple platforms being sufficient for affluent clients is over. The budget has shown that technical support, functionality and tax reporting related to insurance bonds, trusts and inter-generational planning is now critical for advisers and their platform of choice. As the Budget demonstrated, rules can change and you will need to do even more capital gains (CGT) and inheritance tax (IHT) planning with increases to CGT, employer’s National Insurance (NI) and unused defined contribution pensions falling within IHT calculations from April 2027.
To support you, from this month we are providing focused articles on the impacts of the budget and potential ways to manage the changes with your clients. In article 8 we reflect on the end of a “golden age” of using pensions to manage IHT. We share how the new world will compare with the current one and the pre-April 2015 regime. Next, in article 9, we look at how individuals could consider alternative gifting strategies to maintain the original intention of passing on their wealth in the most tax-efficient manner. In article 10, we examine amendments to the Finance Act 2024 and the abolition of the Lifetime Allowance. Please call our direct technical line if you want to discuss any of these articles in more detail.
We have delivered a number of improvements this year aimed at making it easier to do business with Transact including express trades on TOL, updating pension beneficiaries on TOL and opening ISAs online back in May. From this month you can open pensions for existing clients online too. As we look forward into next year, our strategic priorities continue to focus on personal service, digitalisation and integrations. Please look out for same day deposit matching and pension drawdown online which are just a few of our upcoming improvements plus, of course, many more API integrations.
Next year we will also take some decisions to reduce risk and complexity for us and you. These decisions are designed to ensure we can lead the platform market over the long term. You will have seen our recent announcement on compulsory two factor authentication for advisers in November. This month we remind you that we are removing purchase related fees for existing clients from September 2025. If that applies to you, we urge you to start the process of moving to a new fee structure for you and your clients. Do contact us if you would like any support.
Thank you if you were able to attend London Connect on 27 November especially given the challenging weather and travel issues on the day! As expected, there was lots of interesting comment and debate. Louise Cooper, Economist and Lecturer, and Paul Flatters, Founder and CEO of Trajectory provided highly insightful commentary on the budget and the financial impact of recent world events. This short video provides an overview of the event. We have already secured dates for 2025 breakfast events next year. Please see below for more details and save the date for now! We will also be announcing the Connect event dates in the New Year – so please look out for those. As part of your New Year planning we would encourage you to consider a Transact Health Check to ensure you are making the most of all of the platform features and adopting Consumer Duty best practice. See article 4 below and contact your ASM to book an appointment.
Finally, from me and everyone at Transact, we would like to thank you for all your support throughout 2024 as we move into the Christmas festive season and New Year celebrations. May 2025 bring you good health, wealth and happiness.
Kind regards,
Jonathan Gunby
Chief Executive Officer,
Integrated Financial Arrangements Limited (Transact)
1. Introduction
2. TOL Recent Enhancements
3. Removal of Adviser Purchase Related Fees
4. Platform Health Check
5. Adding Value to family Businesses
6. LoA Discounted Service
7. Transact – BlackRock MPS Two Years On!
8. Pensions Death Benefits and a Time For Reflection
9. Pensions, IHT Headaches And The Potential For Gifting
10. Finance Act 2024 and Abolition of LTA
11. Interest on cash
12. Transact Events 2025