Ted Scott on the wire: Can pigs fly

The concerns that are currently surrounding the issue of sovereign debt are definitely the topic du jour in the financial markets. The crisis has centred on Greece but it has wider implications, hence the acronym in the title Portugal, Ireland (or/and Italy), Greece and Spain (PIGS). Indeed, the partial default by Dubai focused investors' minds on the issue of sovereign default back in November last year, although this was largely self-contained in that Dubai was one of several Emirates that could ultimately rely on the support of the financially stronger Abu Dhabi. Following a short period of stand off Dubai received the aid it was seeking but the problems facing Greece, and potentially other larger countries with large public debt, are much more intractable.

Read Ted's views on how Sovereign Debt may impact investment markets.

Article last updated: Feb 8, 2010

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Panacea is the only active community for small directly regulated IFA firms who are looking for access to help, educational support, advice and technical training from major product providers.

What we do

www.panaceaifa.com is a community for small to medium, directly regulated IFA firms. The portal, launched in February 2007, is designed for IFA's by IFA's and aims to bring small to medium sized IFA's and Providers closer together in an efficient, meaningful and cost effective way.

On the site IFA's can access technical, business and industry expertise in one place by browsing the Investments, Pensions, Protection, Retirement zones of the site, connect with fellow practitioners via the online forum, and keep up to date with the latest news, comment and industry trends with our free weekly email newsletter.

Going forward, the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) will impact greatly upon providers who rely on the network and national IFA model to distribute their products. The remuneration model will change as will the support model. All of a sudden the small, directly regulated IFA has become attractive again as they currently are best equipped to deal with the changes proposed for 2012, but how do providers engage with their world again?

After all, over the years, smaller IFAs have lost the face-to-face support resource that existed and providers no longer have an in-house method of economically delivering support and maintaining relationships.

The answer is simple. PanaceaIFA's role is to join up the loose connections between directly regulated Independent Financial Advisers and product providers. Its aim is also to correct the support and service imbalance with providers - currently in favour of Networks and larger national IFA firms- in a way that is in fact RDR friendly as resource support is delivered by a free to use, independent industry supported portal.

Therefore, at a time when product provider marketing budgets are being scrutinised and reduced, the decision has be to be made whether to reduce the amounts being invested in distributor marketing programmes and look for opportunities that are more new media, more new model adviser to deliver resources, support, education, training, marketing, business promotion ideas and more to the distribution channel best placed to quickly adjust to the changing landscape the industry faces.

Who we are

Panacea is a portal and community where smaller IFAs can exchange ideas and seek advice, where providers can establish direct contact with a new and active distribution channel of small, directly regulated individuals or firms and all in one place. With a community growing toward 1,800 members made up of small, directly regulated IFA firms it will come as a surprise to many that such a small group of "difficult to service" businesses can produce so much business.

Touchstone analysis has shown that PanaceaIFA members premium income from sales from Q1/09 to end of November 2009 was £639.9m. This level of production is as a result of very little, and in many cases no, provider support. If Panacea was a network and involved in distribution it would be responsible for the highest volume of business production by far.

Simply put, the PanaceaIFA membership represents a quality communication opportunity that will be difficult to find anywhere else. Our members are loyal, receptive and hungry for knowledge.

Touchstone top ten business product types during this period were:

1 Unit Trust (SP) 29.69%
2 GPP (RP) 20.85%
3 Pension Trans 6.75%
4 Pensions (RP) 6.33%
5 Pension Annuity 7.62%
6 Offshore Bond 3.87%
7 UL Bond 3.71%
8 Pensions (SP) 3.57%
9 GPP (SP) 2.50%
10 Term 2.21%

Who we work with

Supported by founder sponsors Aviva, Aegon, AXA, LV=, Scottish Life Thames River Capital, Scottish Widows, Lincoln, Bright Grey, 7IM, Scottish Provident, Ascentric, Unipass and Adviserwise and new for 2009/ 2010 J P Morgan, Artemis, M&G, FundsNetwork, Gartmore, Fidelity, Prudential, Schroder and Royal London 360. Panacea has also established key alliances with leading companies operating in the financial services support market such as Voyant, Paraplanner, Defaqto, Trustnet, PYV, Citywire, Asset.TV, Wizard Learning, The Personal Finance Society, Funds Library, Rayner Spencer Mills, Marketing Hub, Mortgage Brain and Regus.

All these firms bring to the community relevant, trusted information in a timely and objective fashion. Many services they offer are free, some at a beneficial cost to Panacea members.

Unipass is a service provided by Origo Secure Internet Services Ltd. for the UK financial services industry. In simple terms, Unipass is a secure digital certificate - a small encrypted file on your PC used to uniquely identify you. It's like having your own electronic passport. It allows users to move seamlessly between supported provider sites.

Why we need you

Panacea is free to IFAs thanks to the support of our sponsors and partners. As our resources develop and grow we aim to introduce a members-only zone where, for a small fee, you will have access to premium content expanding upon what is already available in regard to training, business development, technology and technical help. The membership fee will be very low, so please do use Panacea to the full, tell your industry friends and colleagues about us, and help build a unique community that serves your needs.

How to join us

As an IFA you can join simply by registering for your Unipass certificate. If you would like to join our prestigious panel of sponsors or partners or to advertise on our site, please call our team on 0191 206 4030.

If you are a life assurance, investment, pension and retirement product provider and want to find a realistic and cost effective way to reconnect with the valuable distribution channel of small IFA firms, then look no further than Panacea. Opportunities exist for strategic partners to sell tools, training, back office or legal services to our IFA members – please call us for more details or send us an email.