FTAdviser.com

Advertising

Alliance & Leicester appears to have done a U-turn as it vows not to implement dual-pricing on its products.

Referring to the recent practice of dual pricing implemented by some high street lenders Viviane Clement, the newly-appointed head of intermediaries for Alliance & Leicester, vehemently denied the lender would go down the same distribution route, weeks after it said this could never be ruled out.

She said: “We will not undermine the relationships we have with our brokers by doing this. They remain key to us and we will not put this pricing structure in place.”

Ms Clement also said that, as part of this ongoing commitment, Alliance & Leicester was targeting its online system as an area for update and would form part of an ongoing process of service improvement.

Adrian Kidd, IFA for London-based Unleash Financial Partnership, said this was good news, however, he felt it may have been prompted by adverse publicity.

He said: “As many lenders go down the dual pricing route it is good Alliance & Leicester have taken the reverse approach. However, this may not have been a voluntary decision as the press coverage has been quite negative. Either way, whatever the reasoning it is an important decision and may be the beginning of other lenders following their example. As brokers continue to feel the squeeze we need more lenders to say the same.”