Zurich has unveiled a range of new services and solutions to support advisers and their customers wanting to take advantage of the new pension reforms coming into effect on 6 April.
The retail platform will offer an enhanced drawdown capability, allowing customers to take unrestricted income under the new flexi-access drawdown regulations.
It will also support uncrystallised fund pension lump sums, helping those customers who want to access their pension savings as a cash alternative.
Zurich has also enhanced its overall at-retirement proposition, to include a new online adviser support service to help explain the choices available to customers approaching retirement, which will be available in April at no additional cost to platform users.
An enhanced customer reporting suite for advisers – designed in partnership with FE – will also be offered to provide greater clarity on the investment performance of the customer’s holding, help manage their tax position and track progress towards investment goals.
A new long-term care solution is also to be added, supporting customers looking to protect themselves for future care needs, utilising the wider group’s protection market expertise.
Alistair Wilson, head of platform retail strategy, explained that the services have been designed to engage customers, supporting advisers and their clients through the pension planning process and cover the various options available with a clear audit trail.
“These enhancements complement our wider ‘at retirement’ provision, demonstrating we recognise that people will want to protect themselves from the potential risks that they face in retirement as well as ensuring they benefit from the new freedoms.”
Other providers have started giving details of their propositions for the pension reforms, with Royal London in talks with advisers over how it can deliver an impartial service to those not sufficiently catered for by the Pension Wise offering.
Schroders also launched a new flexible pre-retirement fund in response to the new freedoms and Aegon explained that its platform will enable customers and their advisers to combine income drawdown and unit-linked guarantees.
peter.walker@ft.com
