Warning on care home financial sales  There are no rules preventing people selling financial products to vulnerable people in care homes, says the Sunday Times. It reported a Financial Ombudsman decision involving an elderly person in a care home who was showing signs of dementia. A relative was in the process of obtaining Power of […]

How good is LISA?  How does the Lifetime ISA, the savings scheme launched in April 2017, compare with other saving options? asks the Herald. Despite the possible merits of a government subsidy of 25 per cent on the annual maximum of £4,000 for those aged under 40, many experts caution that LISA is not as […]

The end of BTL?  Buy-to-let landlords are switching from residential to commercial property, says the Telegraph. Auctioneers say the imminent start of the new tax regime for residential BTL, which will severely cut net of tax returns, has prompted many landlords to look at shops, offices and industrial units. The rental yield is often higher […]

Spring Budget 2017 – what it means for you This was the last Spring Budget. Future Budgets will move to the autumn, with a toned-down statement on the economy delivered each March. This will give welcome breathing space between the announcement of Budget changes and their introduction. The key points were: A fairer tax system […]

Introduction Welcome to the latest edition of our Financial Crime Awareness Bulletin. This bulletin considers recent developments and trends in the area of Financial Crime and is intended to bring them to your attention. We aim to raise awareness of key topics affecting the industry, highlight important issues, changes to legislation and re-emphasize the need […]

Parents hold onto their cash  The Mail reports a survey about inheritance in which 30 per cent of parents said worries about their children’s relationships meant they didn’t want to give them money. Some 14 per cent said they were bypassing their children and giving to grandchildren, about the same percentage as those who expressed […]

More workers, less pay  There has been a big rise in the number of agency workers in recent years, reports the Financial Times, and by 2020 there could be a million in the UK. Classed as ‘workers’ rather than employees, they do not get the protections employees receive by law, and on average get paid […]

Why mortgage rates will rise  UK mortgage rates are about to rise, says the Telegraph. It says global financial factors are at work, the most important being interest rates in the US, where the cost of mortgages has risen by 0.4% since the presidential election. ‘Swap’ rates, which set fixed rates for UK lenders, fell […]

Merry Christmas and best wishes for the New Year from everyone at Opus Gold.  Thank you for your ongoing support during 2016, and we look forward to working with you again in the new year !  

Client categories: Employee 40,000 Tesco bank accounts hacked  Tesco admitted that 40,000 of its bank’s 136,000 current accounts had been hacked and money stolen from about half of them. Though many banks have previously had individual accounts hacked, this is believed to be the largest hack in the UK involving theft of money from a […]