PROBE LAUNCH

The UK competition watchdog will launch a full-blown probe into investment

consultants following concerns about conflicts of interest in a sector managing more than £1.6trillion of pension and insurance funds.

The problems were flagged up by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which said yesterday that it had referred the investment consultancy and fiduciary management sector to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Investment consultants primarily advise pension trustees and other clients on how to invest their company’s retirement funds.

With Aon Hewitt, Mercer, and Willis Towers Watson – known as ‘the big three’ – owning up to 80pc of business in the sector, the FCA is worried small firms are being killed off by larger peers. It is the first time the regulator has referred a whole industry to the CMA.