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Hannah Smith

Verified
  • Journalist, Editor, and Content Writer, Freelance
Manchester
As seen in: The Sun, The Telegraph, Metro (UK), The Times, MovieWeb, CoStar News Hotels, Full Fact, FTAdviser, MoneyWeek, Citywire and
Covers:  Asset management, wealth management, most aspects of personal finance.
Freelance financial journalist. The Times, The Telegraph, ESG Clarity, FE Trustnet, BBC Radio 5 Live Business. Portfolio here: authory.com/HannahSmith
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Articles by Hannah Smith

Trump and Starmer's White House talks: fact checked

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By Hannah Smith , Tony Thompson
| Full Fact
The Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer met US President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday, in their first face-to-face meeting since the latter’s return to office. We’ve taken a look at some of the claims made during a Q&A with reporters in the Oval Office—on aid to Ukraine, tariffs and an invitation for Mr Trump to make a second state visit to the UK.
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LG Skyscraper is perfect fit for Fife growers

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By Hannah Smith , Tom Barker
| LGSeeds UK Blog
Consistent yield performance over several seasons, strong agronomics and suitability for later drilling, have seen soft wheat LG Skyscraper become a mainstay of the rotation for two Fife growers. Tenant farmer and contractor, Zander Hughes, who farms 320 ha (800 acres) of combinable crops for a range of clients, has been growing the variety for several years, and has 81 ha in the ground for this harvest – his whole winter wheat area.
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adventure time | MovieWeb

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By Yana Hrytsai , Hannah Smith , Patrick Dougherty, Ryan Scott
| MovieWeb
Adventure Time: Each Eternal Being in the Series, Explained Adventure Time introduced cosmic entities and eternal beings in place of deities and politicians. Here's a breakdown of each. Here's Why Adventure Time: Distant Lands Was a Great Addition to the Series What happened to Finn and Jake after the series finale? Adventure Time: Distant Lands gives us some satisfying and soulful answers.
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Personal finance tips for small business owners

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By Hannah Smith 
| sharesmagazine.co.uk
Thursday 12 November 2020 Come online and join Shares and AJ Bell Media at their next webinar on Thursday 12 November 2020 which can be accessed from wherever you are! Shares Spotlight webinars...
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The financial advantages of being married

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By Hannah Smith 
| sharesmagazine.co.uk
Wednesday 14 October 2020 Come online and join Shares and AJ Bell Media at their next webinar on Wednesday 14 October 2020 which can be accessed from wherever you are! Shares Spotlight...
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Do I need to bother with property funds if I’m a homeowner?

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By Hannah Smith 
| sharesmagazine.co.uk
We consider the argument for and against putting money into the real estate sector if you’ve already got a mortgage Issue: 24 Sep 2020 - Page 47 Find out how to deal online from £1.50 in a SIPP, ISA or Dealing account.
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Ready-made Investment Portfolios - interactive investor

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By Hannah Smith , Kyle Caldwell , Tom Bailey
| Interactive Investor International
What will it cost to invest in the quick-start funds? To buy and sell any funds with ii, our normal charges apply. Vanguard LifeStrategy® funds have an ongoing charges figure (what it costs to run the fund) of just 0.22%. That means for every £1,000 you invest, £2.20 goes on management costs. Funds often have other fees, such as transaction charges incurred by the fund manager, which increases the overall costs.
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High yielding trusts: are the rewards worth the risks?

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By Hannah Smith 
| sharesmagazine.co.uk
Investors hungry for income could find some opportunities once they’ve fully understand the business models of alternative investment trusts Issue: 17 Sep 2020 - Page 38 Find out how to deal online from £1.50 in a SIPP, ISA or Dealing account.
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What’s the cheapest way to borrow money now?

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By Hannah Smith 
| sharesmagazine.co.uk
For those who need to use credit cards and loans, watch out for tighter lending criteria across the market Issue: 03 Sep 2020 - Page 40 Find out how to deal online from £1.50 in a SIPP, ISA or Dealing account.
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Accessing small caps through ETFs

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By Hannah Smith 
| sharesmagazine.co.uk
Find out how to deal online from £1.50 in a SIPP ISA or Dealing account
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Top tips for writing a will

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By Hannah Smith 
| sharesmagazine.co.uk
Novotel Tower Bridge, London EC3N 2NR, EC3N 2NR Tuesday 25 February 2020 Join Shares and AJ Bell for an evening of investment inspiration and get to meet the decision-makers behind some of the UK’s fastest growing listed companies. The event on...
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Advisers and ISAs

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
January 14 2020 Will financial advisers drive the next phase of growth for the Innovative Finance ISA? Hannah Smith reports THE INNOVATIVE Finance ISA (IFISA) has been slow out of the starting blocks since its 2016 launch. But with growing investor awareness of the product, it is finally gaining traction, boasting £1bn in assets under management last year.
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Concrete returns

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
October 14 2019 How does peer-to-peer investing stack up against other routes into the property market? Hannah Smith reports PROPERTY IS ONE OF the busiest segments of the peer-to-peer lending sector, with platforms for most types of property loans, from buy-to-let to bridging to development finance and soon, residential mortgages. In an increasingly crowded sector, how can investors choose the right platform? And is P2P lending really the best way to access property?
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How to build a diversified portfolio with just three ETFs

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By Hannah Smith 
| sharesmagazine.co.uk
Radisson Blu Hotel Edinburgh, EH11TH Thursday 14 November 2019 Come and join Shares and AJ Bell Media at their Edinburgh Investor Evening on Thursday 14 November 2019 at the Radisson Blu Hotel, located in the heart of the historic Royal...
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Using ETFs to invest in quality companies

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By Hannah Smith 
| sharesmagazine.co.uk
Find out how to deal online from £1.50 in a SIPP ISA or Dealing Account
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How do I know which ETF to buy when lots track the same thing?

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By Hannah Smith 
| sharesmagazine.co.uk
Novotel Tower Bridge, London EC3N 2NR, EC3N 2NR Wednesday 18 September 2019 Join Shares and AJ Bell for an evening of investment inspiration and get to meet the decision-makers behind some of the UK’s fastest growing listed companies. The event on...
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What are preference shares and should you buy them? Â

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By Hannah Smith 
| sharesmagazine.co.uk
Radisson Blu Hotel Edinburgh, EH11TH Thursday 12 September 2019 Come and join Shares and AJ Bell Media at their Edinburgh Investor Evening on Thursday 12 September 2019 at the Radisson Blu Hotel, located in the heart of the historic Royal...
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Iwoca slams government’s ‘failing’ bank referral scheme

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
THE GOVERNMENT’S bank referral scheme is failing and needs a major overhaul if it is to plug a £10bn small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) funding gap, says Iwoca. In an open letter to the Chancellor Philip Hammond, the SME finance provider’s co-founder and chief executive Christoph Rieche (pictured) slammed the scheme, which he said had “failed to deliver any meaningful impact”.
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Growth Street: SMEs let down by Open Banking outages

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
GROWTH Street has claimed that small businesses are losing out because UK banks are failing to prioritise fixing Open Banking outages. The peer-to-peer business lender has reviewed publicly-available data which the Open Banking Implementation Entity published on its API downtime monitoring tool. It found that 62 per cent of banks recorded a fall in Open Banking availability to customers over the last quarter.
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Funding Circle investment trust asks shareholders to approve...

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
FUNDING Circle is set to begin a managed wind-down of its dedicated investment trust, the Funding Circle SME Income Fund (FCIF), once it gets the green light from shareholders. The FTSE 250-listed peer-to-peer business lender said last month that shareholders had backed plans to stop investing in new assets and begin the process of returning capital to investors.
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P2P platform Lendwise launches to offer postgraduate education finance

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
A NEW peer-to-peer lender has launched which specialises in education finance for graduates and professionals. Financial Conduct Authority-authorised Lendwise is a London-based platform which pairs investors with borrowers who want to fund postgraduate education or professional qualifications to enhance their skills.
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Woodford’s P2P investing timeline

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By Hannah Smith , Marc Shoffman 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
ONE of the UK’s most respected fund managers, Neil Woodford has weathered more than one period of underperformance in his long career, and is currently experiencing another. Woodford became the darling of the fund management sector during his tenure at Invesco Asset Management, taking lots of loyal investors with him when he left and launched his own self-named range of products in 2014.
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LendingCrowd adds diversification tools to portfolios

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
LENDINGCROWD has unveiled two new product features designed to improve diversification for investors. The Scottish peer-to-peer business lending platform said investors in its Growth Account and Income Account can already create diversified portfolios, but with the addition of the AutoBalance and AutoQueue functions, LendingCrowd will automatically increase diversification by reducing the proportion of funds that can be invested in any one loan.
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Assetz Capital aims to raise £1m on Seedrs as it mulls IPO

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
ASSETZ Capital is aiming to raise £1m through its third equity crowdfunding campaign via Seedrs to support its staff and product expansion plans, with a possible stock market listing on the horizon. More than half of its target for the current campaign has already been funded on the Seedrs platform. The property-secured P2P lender’s latest funding round is a precursor to a larger planned funding round targeting institutional investors.
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FSCS considers compensation for investors in failed mini-bond firm

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
THE Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has urged customers of collapsed mini-bond provider London Capital & Finance (LCF) to register for updates as it looks at whether there are grounds for compensation. The FSCS says it wants to keep customers up to date as it works with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), administrators and legal experts to decide if investors can claim compensation from the firm, which went into administration in January.
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Barclays IT failure delays payments on Lendy platform

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
A RECENT IT failure at Barclays Bank has caused delays to deposits and withdrawals for Lendy customers, the platform says, as it continue to work through a payments backlog. Users trying to make and request payments on Lendy at the end of last month were met with a notice informing them that the platform was having technical issues with its banking services. Some Lendy users reported not having received withdrawals they had requested.
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What is the best provision fund structure?

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
PROVISION FUNDS are designed to cover peer-to-peer investors in the event that a borrower defaults on their loan, but the way they are funded and operated varies widely across platforms. So what should investors be looking for and is there an optimal structure to reduce their chances of losses? One key difference is whether pay-outs from reserve or provision funds are automatic or discretionary.
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Platforms report IFISA growth despite bad press

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
PEER-TO-PEER lenders have reported a rise in Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) inflows this ISA season, although there are concerns that bad press in the lead-up to the end of the tax year dampened investor demand. Industry figures have suggested that the collapse of mini-bond provider London Capital & Finance and a Financial Conduct Authority warning on “high risk” IFISAs could have made consumers wary about investing in the crucial days leading up to 5 April.
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LendInvest’s first retail bond declines in value

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
LENDINVEST’S first listed retail bond has lost £4m in value in the past nine months. LendInvest Secured Income, which is a listed wholly-owned subsidiary of online mortgage lender LendInvest, revealed a breakdown of its two loan portfolios for its retail bonds for the three months to 31 March. Its first retail bond – LIV1 – has a total of £49.3m in secured loans within the portfolio, all of which are bridging loans.
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Honeycomb trust sees NAV climb in March

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
SPECIALIST lending fund the Honeycomb Investment Trust has reported its best monthly net asset value (NAV) return in five months, bringing its year-to-date return to 1.81 per cent. The London-listed trust, which invests in consumer, property and small business loans, delivered a NAV return per share of 0.67 per cent in March, equating to 8.1 per cent on an annualised basis.
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Funding Circle lowers return projections

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
FUNDING Circle has revised down the annual return projections on its Balanced and Conservative portfolios. The peer-to-peer business lender now predicts investors in its Balanced portfolio will achieve a return of 4.5 – 6.5 per cent a year. Investors in its Conservative portfolio, meanwhile, could achieve 4.3 – 4.7 per cent a year.
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Buy-to-let landlords ‘should have sold three years ago’ as returns...

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
BUY-TO-LET landlords have seen their returns decline in recent years and would fare better from investing in listed corporate landlords instead, new research has found. A new index from direct lending investment manager BondMason has recorded the performance of residential property investments. It showed that, after strong returns for decades, most private landlords will now be suffering the impact of tax changes.
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Welendus closes funding round as it prepares for India expansion

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
WELENDUS, the peer-to-peer lender focused on short-term loans, has closed its last seed funding round, as it prepares to expand into India. UK/India cross-border fund Unicorn Ascension Fund (UAF) participated in this round as a co-investor with Pontaq, a London-based venture fund focusing on cross-border technology transfer between the UK and India.
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CrowdProperty’s Seedrs campaign smashes target to raise £1.1m

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
CROWDPROPERTY has raised almost £1.1m from its crowdfunding campaign, which was 81 per cent oversubscribed. The peer-to-peer property lender launched its equity fundraising campaign on Seedrs last month, with an original target of £600,000. The firm raised £1,089,000 from 575 investors based on a pre-money valuation of £15.7m. CrowdProperty said the fundraising was especially popular among existing customers – both lenders and borrowers on the platform.
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Online lending sector gears up for more IPOs

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
Comment & AnalysisIndustry NewsNews ONLINE property lender LendInvest last month confirmed that it is considering an initial public offering (IPO) as one of “a range of strategic options for the business”. The former peer-to-peer lender – which withdrew its P2P regulatory application after it stopped accepting retail money via its platform – joins RateSetter and Zopa in the IPO rumour mill, which has gathered pace since Funding Circle’s £300m flotation last year.
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How banks are benefiting from P2P tech innovation

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
TECHNOLOGICAL innovation is a hallmark of the P2P lending sector, and one of the key things that has supported its explosive growth since 2005 when the first P2P lender came to market. In contrast, the traditional financial services sector has been a little slower to innovate, stifled by years of changing regulation and legacy systems and processes.
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LendInvest to enter mortgage market with £200m funding line from HSBC

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
LENDINVEST has secured a £200m funding line from HSBC UK, allowing it to make its first move into the residential mortgage lending space. The online property lender said it plans to offer its first home loan by the end of the year, which will be available to homeowners who need short-term bridging finance for up to 12 months. The move is part of LendInvest’s plan to disrupt the £200bn mainstream UK mortgage market as it becomes a whole of market mortgage provider.
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Manchester’s small businesses turn to alternative finance

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
MANCHESTER-BASED small businesses are more likely to turn to alternative finance providers for funding compared with firms elsewhere in the country, new research has found. A survey of 222 businesses in the North West by peer-to-peer lender Growth Street revealed that 43 per cent of Mancunian businesses would consider going somewhere other than a bank for their finance. This is up from 27 per cent in 2018 and 7 per cent above the nation as a whole.
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Industry hits back as FCA warns on IFISA risk

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
THE PEER-TO-PEER lending industry has hit back at a warning from the financial regulator to consumers about the risks of the Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA). The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it has seen evidence that IFISAs are being promoted alongside cash ISAs and has urged consumers to “carefully consider where their money is being invested” before purchasing the “high risk” product.
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Zopa reveals 38 per cent median gender pay gap

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
ZOPA has published details of its gender pay gap for the first time, revealing numbers its chief executive describes as “far from ideal”. The UK’s oldest P2P platform revealed combined numbers from across Zopa Limited and its new banking arm, Zopa Bank. It reported a median gender pay gap of 37.8 per cent and a mean gender pay gap of 25.9 per cent. It also revealed a median gender bonus gap of 40 per cent, and a mean gender bonus gap of 36.5 per cent.
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UK public ‘cares more about Blue Planet than Brexit’

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
ETHICAL peer-to-peer platform Abundance Investment has found that UK adults are more concerned with reducing plastic waste than worrying about Brexit. The firm polled 2,000 adults for its Great British Money Survey, aiming to discover the key ethical and environmental issues which worry consumers and motivate investors.
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Landlords lean on accountants to navigate tax changes in BTL sector

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
MORE than half of landlords use an accountant to help them make property decisions and navigate recent tax changes to the sector, new research has found. The survey of 500 landlords conducted by Kent Reliance for Intermediaries, part of specialist mortgage provider OneSavings Bank, found that 58 per cent already consult an accountant, while a further 10 per cent would consider doing so in future.
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VPC Specialty Lending reports small capital loss in February

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
VPC Specialty Lending reported rising revenues but a capital loss in February as it continues with its share buyback programme designed to narrow the trust’s discount. The alternative finance-focused investment company delivered a net return of 0.46 per cent during February, although capital returns for the month were down 0.1 per cent, driven by the recurring costs of its hedging programme.
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MarketInvoice joins Future Fifty list of tech leaders

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By Hannah Smith 
| p2pfinancenews.co.uk
BUSINESS finance platform MarketInvoice has made the Future Fifty, a list of the UK’s leading late-stage companies whose alumni include Deliveroo and Transferwise. MarketInvoice joins 23 other new entrants, including challenger banks Monzo and Starling Bank, on the fintech-heavy list compiled by Tech Nation. Online property lender LendInvest is one of the firms already on the list.
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Mapping Hurricane Irma’s impact across Caribbean, US

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By Hannah Smith , Claudia Alvarado
| CoStar News Hotels
Mapping Hurricane Irma’s impact across Caribbean, US 25 SEPTEMBER 2017 7:52 AM This detailed analysis examines the effect of Hurricane Irma on hotel demand across the Caribbean and southeastern United States. BROOMFIELD, Colorado—Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms to make landfall in the U.S., forced mandatory evacuations across the state of Florida after causing severe damage to several Caribbean islands.
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Insurtech: Five ways insurers are getting ahead in a digital world

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By Hannah Smith 
| blog.kurtosys.com
After 100 years of doing the same old thing, the insurance market has experienced huge changes over the last decade. The world’s biggest insurance players are making significant investments in new technology, and partnering with small, nimble startups as they embrace ‘insurtech’. This is a heartening trend to see from companies whose size, history and conservative culture have traditionally conspired to stifle innovation.
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“We need you to make it go viral.” What’s the secret to viral marketing?

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By Hannah Smith 
| blog.kurtosys.com
I always thought the whole point of something ‘going viral’ on the internet was that it happens spontaneously. A funny tweet, a photo of a weird-looking dog, or a video clip of a politician’s embarrassing gaffe gets picked up and circulated all over the net where it explodes into a meme. Then suddenly the owner of a cat with a squashed face can find themselves quitting their job and making millions managing their cat’s career, complete with merchandising deals, TV appearances and book tour.
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Could ‘Gamification’ Make Millennials Care About Pensions?

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By Hannah Smith 
| blog.kurtosys.com
With Britain’s exit from the EU being largely decided by ‘the grey vote’, things look worse than ever for downtrodden Millennials. Financial commentators are warning that Brexit means we will all be drawing our pensions later, and our pots will be smaller. This means it is now more important than ever to make provisions for the future, and (broke, indebted) young people especially will need to prioritise pension savings.
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The dark side of tech innovation: FCA flags five big risks

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By Hannah Smith 
| blog.kurtosys.com
Most in the financial services industry love to moan about the FCA. Although there are many reasons you might not love the regulator, you can’t argue that it’s pretty forward-thinking when it comes to fintech. In fact, regulators around the world are looking to the FCA to see what kind of ideas it has on fostering innovation and competition. And it has plenty.
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Marketing in the emotional economy

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By Hannah Smith 
| blog.kurtosys.com
‘Feelings, nothing more than feelings…..’ so the old song goes. Anyone in the business of selling knows that they will only be successful if they can align their brands with their customers’ wants, needs and, most importantly, feelings. Take the example of money. It is a very emotive subject for most people. How much you have, how you earn it, whether you flaunt it, money and how you feel about it can be a big part of your identity.
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