Compliance Matters: Week ending 3rd March 2026

16 hours ago
2 min read

Here is a digest of issues that have come across my desk this week. Where relevant, I have provided high-level summaries with hyperlinks to documents that give further detail.

Consumer investments priorities: strengthening trust, supporting investors
Vulnerability in retirement
Grandparents eye student loans in inheritance tax planning
Inheritance tax and pensions: the cost of doing nothing

Consumer investments priorities: strengthening trust, supporting investors

In a speech at the TISA Inclusive Investing Conference, Lucy Castledine, director consumer investments at the FCA highlighted:

Consumer investments are a cornerstone of the UK economy, with over 5,000 authorised firms and their representatives, serving 19 million adults – around a third of our population. Our sector safeguards the future of individuals and families up and down the country.
Building a stronger investment culture is critical for consumers’ financial lives. The FCA is excited to work with firms on plans such as targeted support.
For a strong investment culture, consumers need trust, confidence in good consumer outcomes, and reassurance in strong financial crime controls.
Through all this, the FCA recognises that the consumer investments landscape is changing – and it want to hear from firms.

I will leave it to you to read the speech in full but key statements above about the FCA’s continuing focus on good consumer outcomes and strong financial crime controls should not be ignored. Within the body of the speech, Lucy Castledine discusses risk warnings, and states “Clear and balanced risk disclosures are not just a regulatory requirement; they are essential to building confidence, trust, and an inclusive investing environment. Consumers benefit where risk information is contextualised and firms explain the relationship between risk and return.”

Vulnerability in Retirement

Comentis in association with Just have produced a guide to vulnerability in retirement. There are some useful reminders within the guide and rather than summarise the sections, I will leave it to you to read for yourselves.

Grandparents eye student loans in inheritance tax planning

An article FT Adviser explores how grandparents may pay off the student debt of their grandchildren as part of IHT planning. If part of a wider plan, grandparents may use the £3,000 annual exemption gift and the potentially exempt transfer rules to set the seven-year clock running. With the IHT nil-rate band set at £325,000 until April 2030 and unused pensions subject to IHT from April 2027, helping grandchildren as part of an integrated IHT planning strategy may be a viable option to reduce IHT and give grandchildren a head start.

Inheritance tax and pensions: the cost of doing nothing

Also, on the subject of IHT. In a new article for Professional Adviser’s Retirement and IHT hub, Lucy Dolan, Senior Business Development Manager at Triple Point, looks at: