Money Marketing Podcast

In the latest episode of the Money Marketing Podcast, this week in association with Royal London, our panel takes a deep dive into the protection market and how to overcome barriers to sales. Money Marketing editor Justin Cash is joined by Addidi Wealth's Anna Sofat, Richmond House's Ian Jenkins and Royal London's Vincent O'Connor to discuss their greatest protection victories and how advisers can communicate the real benefits of cover to their clients.

The Neptune India fund has seen inflows of over £90m since the start of the year, and a lot of these came from investors looking for foreign funds in the wake of the EU referendum. Kunal Desai, the head of Indian equities at Neptune Asset Management explains to investment reporter Valentina Romeo how the Indian economy is enjoying structural growth with a closer look at the sharp turnaround in companies' earnings. Kunal's £120m fund is a concentrated portfolio of 30 to 50 stocks with a turnover of 10 per cent. The fund manager says despite the fund being mostly mid-cap biased, the companies he looks at are set to become blue-chip firms in the next ten years. The fund has returned 30.5 per cent over one year period, compared to the 8.9 per cent of the IA Specialist sector, according to Morningstar.

In 2016 more than €6bn has been added to smart beta strategies. But have advisers embraced the trend or are smart beta products still in their infancy? Elsewhere, other investment strategies this year had a lot to do with inflation protection, following the very high monetary policy intervention from central banks around the world. Investment reporter Valentina Romeo speaks to Lyxor ETF's head of Northern European research Adam Laird about the uptake of smart beta strategies as well as about the latest inflation data and how to invest to protect from it.

Customers have flooded into drawdown products following the radical pensions reforms. However, many have done so without the help of an adviser. Just Retirement's Steve Lowe, Hargreaves Lansdown's Tom McPhail and IFA Nick McBreen speak to Money Marketing about the risks facing customers and the experience so far.

The growth story in emerging market is still a valid one despite higher recent volatility, says Jupiter's new emerging market fund manager Jason Pidcock, who talks to investment reporter Valentina Romeo about his views on the region. Pidcock, who has been investing in emerging markets for over 20 years, says worries about China and its economic slowdown will remain but in some areas the country will grow faster, such as in tourism. Former Newton fund manager is to launch his Asian Income fund next week, topping key countries such as Australia and the Philippines. He says it is much more profitable to launch a fund in emerging markets after the market has been weak rather than to do so at the top of the market. On Brexit, the fund manager also says he has no concerns on the UK growth rate whatever the outcome of the referendum might be and so he says Asian companies should not be worried about trading with the UK whatever the scenarios.

The opening of 2016 has seen markets recording their worst weeks for many years setting the question of whether these setbacks will lead to a global economic recession. Investment reporter Valentina Romeo speaks to M&G fund manager Stephen Andrew and Axa Wealth head of investing Adrian Lowcock to understand why a recession isn’t likely to happen anytime soon.

The Treasury's Financial Advice Market Review is set to transform the advice industry. Last week Money Marketing revealed how the review's expert panel may recommend reintroducing some form of commission to help fill the advice gap. In this week's podcast, Old Mutual Wealth's Carlton Hood argues in favour of providers paying some of the cost of advice, while Fairer Finance's James Daley warns against turning the clock back. Pensions reporter Sam Brodbeck watches the battle commence.

In the latest episode of the Money Marketing podcast, Altus's Ben Coks, the Pension PlayPen's Henry Tapper and pensions reporter Sam Brodbeck discuss pot-follows-member. Former pensions minister Steve Webb favoured the model as a way to stop the build up of millions of forgotten pension pots created by auto-enrolment. However, there were - and remain - critics of the system, which automatically moves savings of £10,000 or less to a member's new job. The new Government is yet to reveal whether it is sticking with Webb's plan - due to be rolled out in October 2016 on an opt-in basis. And the pensions freedoms has brought the issue into even sharper focus. Pension transfers have come under the spotlight as savers struggle to access their pots, with the Treasury launching a consultation on possible barriers to the freedoms.

Hargreaves Lansdown head of pensions reseach Tom McPhail discusses the Government's advice review, the proposed Just Retirement/Partnership merger and a possible exit fees clampdown with Money Marketing head of news Tom Selby

The Government has launched a consultation into potentially huge changes to the pensions tax system. Can the Government resist the £50bn prize of removing up front tax relief in the face of industry opposition? There are worrying signs George Osborne has already made up his mind. Pensions reporter Sam Brodbeck talks to law firm Eversheds senior associate Tim Smith