The Morning Briefing: Will a new leader keep pushing flawed policies?; How to de-risk pensions
Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Monday 27 July 2026. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Ros Altmann: Will a new leader keep pushing flawed policies?
With a new prime minister in place, writes former pensions minister Ros Altmann, what measures might we expect as he searches for extra revenue?
Sadly, I fear anyone interested in Money Marketing and investment matters could be facing further bad news.
There has been a clear shift in fiscal policy – hitting businesses, wealth creators and people who have assets such as Isas, pensions and homes.
Retirement Evolution Series: How to de-risk pensions under the new tax regime
Recent legislative updates have brought estate planning directly into mainstream financial advice, with unused pensions now facing heavy tax liabilities upon death.
In this episode, Kimberley Dondo talks to Les Cameron, head of technical at M&G, to unpack the immediate planning red flags advisers must address.
Quote Of The Day
Trump’s latest tariffs are ill-judged, potentially catastrophic for business and likely to utterly fail in their stated aim
– Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, GMB national secretary, comments on the latest wave of tariffs on imports to the US
Stat Attack
More than 500 crypto investors have settled unpaid tax bills with HMRC over the past two years.
The figures come as new reporting rules increase the amount of customer and transaction data crypto platforms must provide to tax authorities.
502 crypto investors
reached settlements with HMRC over unpaid taxes in 2024/25 and 2025/26.
£8.33m
was the total value of crypto tax settlements across the two years.
£21,552
was the average settlement in 2025/26, up from £12,654 the previous year.
£16,589
was the average settlement across the full two-year period.
Around 100,000 people
are understood to have received HMRC ‘nudge letters’ about potential unpaid crypto taxes during the two years.
More than 40 countries
are adopting the OECD’s Cryptoasset Reporting Framework.
£300 per customer record
is the potential fine for crypto platforms submitting missing or inaccurate information.
Source: HMRC
In Other News
More than £6.3bn has remained in Premium Bond accounts with no activity for a decade, according to data obtained by Octopus Money through a Freedom of Information request.
The accounts recorded no deposits, withdrawals or updated contact details.
Octopus Money said £85.4bn, nearly two-thirds of all money held in Premium Bonds, was in accounts classed as inactive during the past year, up from £80.5bn a year earlier.
The findings follow several reductions to the Premium Bonds prize rate, before its first increase in three years took effect in July.
The FOI data showed that 510,061 Premium Bond accounts were opened during the 2025-26 financial year.
Of these, 310,913, or more than three in five, had not won a prize by the end of the year.
Octopus Money estimated that a saver holding the average £5,600 balance could instead have earned about £175 in guaranteed interest at a 3.75% savings rate.
TEAM plc has appointed John Cusins as an independent non-executive director with immediate effect, following an announcement made on 30 June 2026.
Cusins has experience across wealth management, private equity, capital markets and business growth.
He co-founded Lumin Wealth Management and helped increase its assets under management from about £12m to £1.4bn before overseeing the sale of a majority stake to VZ Group.
He has also held senior roles at UBS, Dresdner Bank and KPMG, with experience spanning capital allocation and corporate transactions.
TEAM said Cusins’ background in building and scaling wealth management firms would support the company during its next stage of development.
Executive chairman Mark Clubb said Cusins had a strong record of identifying opportunities, developing financial services businesses and creating shareholder value.
He added that Cusins would provide commercial insight as TEAM looks to expand internationally, scale its operations and pursue further strategic opportunities in coming years.
From Elsewhere
Chipmaker CXMT becomes mainland China’s most valuable listed firm (BBC News)
Oil markets are on edge again (The Economist)
UK must ‘get really serious’ about cutting welfare, Burnham says (Bloomberg)
Did You See?
Passive funds captured more than 70% of net fund inflows on UK platforms during the second quarter of 2026, as advisers and investors sought low-cost index tracking.
According to new data from distribution intelligence platform Finscape, UK funds gathered £4.6bn in net inflows across Q2.
Passive strategies dominated the allocations, bringing in £3.2bn, while active funds attracted £1.4bn over the three-month period.
The preference for index tracking was particularly pronounced in June, which Finscape described as “belonging to passive almost entirely”.
Of the £1.8bn in total net inflows recorded during the month, passive vehicles secured £1.7bn. Active strategies saw a trickle of £45m in net flows, as higher redemptions offset £10.3bn in gross sales.
