Standard Life is introducing a series of upgrades to its pension pricing and revamping its digital services as part of strategic plans to rejuvenate proposition and service capability for financial advisers.
Commenting on developments, Chris Hudson, Managing Director of Retail Intermediary at Standard Life said: “Improving our pension pricing and modernising our online presence is part of our renewed commitment to the adviser marketplace.
“We are looking to make improvements in all aspects of our offering and show our long-term commitment to advisers by improving their ability to do business with us. This is the start of that process and part of our strategy to invest in the support we provide to advisers to meet the needs of their clients.”
Update to AMPP / SIPP Pricing
Standard Life is introducing a series of price reductions on its flagship AMPP and SIPP personal pensions resulting in reduced costs, with most customers set to benefit from a 0.5% discount. The discounts apply immediately and will benefit new and existing customers holding insured funds in AMPP and SIPP plans, and with pots of between £25,000 and £500,000.
A typical SIPP client invested in the Standard Life Sustainable Focus 3 pension fund, with a plan value of £100,000 will see their effective charge reduce by £200 per annum.
Standard Life Sustainable Focus 3 pension fund, with a plan value of £100,000
|
Standard Life Sustainable Focus 3 |
Current total effective charge |
New total effective charge |
|
|
0.69% |
0.49% |
|
Total Effective Charge |
£690 |
£490 |
The value of investments can go down as well as up and may be worth less than originally invested.
These personal pension propositions have been designed with flexibility in mind providing investors with a comprehensive range of more than 300 insured funds, and for Retail SIPP additional options including mutual funds, stocks and shares, deposit accounts, commercial property and DFMs.
Payment options range from yearly to monthly or on an ad-hoc basis while at retirement customers can choose from a range of flexible, income drawdown options including drip-feed and tailored drawdown. The proposition is also digitally enabled, and the functionality can be managed using an online dashboard. Both SIPP and AMPP also accept transfers from other pension plans.
Digital Switch to standardlife.co.uk/adviser
Continuing its investment in proposition and servicing capability, Standard Life will shortly introduce a series of digital upgrades with the launch of standardlife.co.uk/adviser. It will gradually switch away from the current portal, Adviserzone, which will be retired by early 2023.
Standardlife.co.uk/adviser will improve the user experience for advisers, reflecting current developments in IT and technology and represents a step-up from Adviserzone.
The adviser portal will be supported by a new technology platform that will future proof the user experience and allow Standard Life to more easily introduce upgrades and enhancements that meet the evolving needs of advisers and their clients.
In the first phase of development, the new digital portal will introduce web friendly functionality such as a helpful filtering system for Literature, a new Fund Filter design and improved user journeys into key online services, while being quicker and easier to use
Standard Life’s digital upgrade follows extensive research with advisers to test concepts and user functionality. More developments are planned over the next year to update tools and calculators to further improve advisers’ experience and ability to transact online.
