PensionsMar 10 2016

Scottish Widows to spend £50m on adviser support

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Scottish Widows to spend £50m on adviser support

Scottish Widows has launched a £50m programme to improve its products and services as well as improve its adviser support.

The provider has also said it will create a range of new digital services over the next 18 months.

Called Driving Pensions Value, the programme of investment will see the introduction of a new suite of digital tools for employers and employees launched.

Ronnie Taylor, pensions director at Scottish Widows, said: “The pensions industry has been shock-absorbing an unprecedented amount of change over the past few years, rightly putting the spotlight on value for money and delivering good outcomes for savers at retirement.

“By investing in an intensive improvement programme focused on Driving Pensions Value, we are streamlining our business to meet the evolving needs of advisers, employers and individuals, concentrating on what really matters to them by removing complexity, and increasing engagement.

“We’ve already laid the foundations for this work and it will be our singular focus this year.”

According to a spokesman for Scottish Widows the “streamlining” will not include redundancies.

Within the next 18 months Scottish Widows will also overhaul its investment fund range to ensure scheme members have access to market leading funds, including the introduction of actively managed portfolios.

The company will also make a series of operational and service enhancements to support advisers and simplify transactions.

Earlier this month Scottish Widows announced that it was removing all exit fees across its workplace pensions ahead of the introduction of a cap.