AJ Bell launched a new streamlined platform, AJ Bell Touch, to help financial advisers implement investment advice for their clients.

The platform allows customers to receive, review and approve actions from their advisers, enact payments to their accounts through open banking integration, view their portfolios and contact their adviser through the secure message feature. AJ Bell said it is the first fully proprietary digital proposition of its kind in the UK adviser market to provide advised clients with an entirely mobile app-based customer experience. Advisers can send their recommendations and key documents to their clients through the adviser website for quick approval. AJ Bell Touch will sit alongside the firm’s existing Investcentre advised platform and custody solutions institutional offering, allowing advisers to service new clients with smaller portfolios within the propositions, helping firms to broaden their target market and tackle the advice gap.

Safestay announced that it took out an additional loan of £1.2m from the trustees of the Sheldon Pension Fund and Sentpark Capital Limited.

The group's final results for the year ended 31 December 2024 confirmed that, in addition to the group refinancing, a supplementary £1.2m loan was obtained from the trustees of the Sheldon Pension Fund and Sentpark Capital Limited in June 2024, in order to facilitate the purchase of a freehold property located in Brighton. The loan was made to Safe Hostels Limited (a 100 per cent owned subsidiary of Safestay plc) with Safestay plc writing a written guarantee. The interest rate on the loan is 1 per cent per month and is serviced monthly, plus arrangement and exit fees of 1 per cent. This loan has an 18-month term and was initially repayable in December 2025. However, this was extended to December 2026, post-year-end.

The Government Actuary's Department (GAD) highlighted its recent efforts to support pension reforms.

In an update, the GAD emphasised that it had provided expertise and insight throughout the government's Pensions Investment Review and consultation process, providing support through GAD actuary Scott Madden, who was on secondment to HM Treasury throughout the process. "GAD support, particularly through a secondee actuary in the team, has meant every stage of policy development benefitted from a range of perspectives, including those with experience of public and private sector pensions investment," HM Treasury senior policy adviser, Siobhan Amutharasan. The GAD also recently held its first public service pensions conference. The conference was intended to provide an opportunity for those working in public service schemes to meet others doing similar work, encourage knowledge sharing and greater collaboration. The conference included discussions on a wide range of topics including the McCloud remedy, AI opportunities and the gender pensions gap.

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