Royal London was named company of the year at last night’s tenth FTAdviser Online Innovation and Service Awards.
More than 1,000 of FTAdviser’s intermediary readers rated Royal London as the company of the year and a five-star investment, life and pensions provider when it comes to service.
The provider picked up the top award of the night, which was held at the Oxo Tower in London on 23 June, as well as being ‘highly commended’ in the new life and pensions innovation category.
Stand-up Andrew Ryan offered his brand of comed as the evening’s compere.
Prudential, which was named company of the year at last year’s FTAdviser Online Innovation and Service Awards, scooped the outstanding achievement award as well as a five-star service award for investment, life and pensions.
The consistent service excellence award went to AJ Bell,
Providers were rated for the overall functionality and design of their technology, plus how well they process business.
The overall winner in the online mortgage service provider category was Bank of Ireland, with More2life, RBS Intermediary, TSB, Skipton Intermediaries, Precise, BM Solutions, Nottingham Building Society, Virgin Money, Halifax, Aldermore and Santander for Intermediaries also being awarded five stars.
More2Life was named the most improved mortgages company.
In the investment online service awards category, the overall winner was Royal London Asset Management, with Transact, Old Mutual Wealth, Nucleus, Prudential, Seven Investment Management, Novia, Columbia Threadneedle, Aviva Investors, Octopus, Virgin Money, Vanguard and Fidelity also picking up five stars.
Virgin Money was named the most improved investment company.
Life and pensions companies that were praised for their online service by advisers were Royal London Pensions, Royal London Protection, Payment Shield, Exeter Family Friendly, Prudential, Partnership, James Hay, Unum, Aviva and Canada Life, and the top-ranked in this category was AJ Bell.
Unum was named the most improved life and pensions company.
FTAdviser chose its tenth awards to mark innovation in the financial services industry.
Innovation has become a buzzword with the regulator and the government in the past 12 months. We have seen the Financial Conduct Authority launch Project Innovate – a sandbox to test new technology – and the Financial Advice Market Review push robo-advice as being the way to ensure those who can’t afford a human adviser still get some help sorting out their retirement income.
This year, FTAdviser asked advisers to praise those who are leading the way with their apps, online tools and systems.
Innovation awards were handed out last night to Rowanmoor, Zurich and Aviva in the life and pensions provider category.
Seven Investment Management was singled out for the launch of its App, and Aviva Investors and Old Mutual Wealth scooped the title of top innovators in the investment category.
Meanwhile, Halifax, Santander for Intermediaries and Skipton Intermediaries took the same title in the mortgages innovation category.
emma.hughes@ft.com
