The investment giant has bought the entire share capital of Annuity Direct and its holding company Retirement Angels for an undisclosed sum, cementing its partnership with the firm after it recently helped to develop the RetireWise service for defined contribution clients of Fidelity.
The deal comes a week after Richard Parkin was unveiled as the new head of retirement for Fidelity, which intends to launch more products with a view to becoming a major player in the retirement market.
Mr Parkin said: “Within the current market there are few services that deliver the quality that customers demand, but also on a scale which supports the growing number of retirees in the UK. Annuity Direct is one of the exceptions.”
The buyout will not affect Annuity Direct’s status as an independent financial adviser. Alan Higham will stay on as chairman of the company while taking an unspecified role within Fidelity to help develop its at-retirement proposition. Don Grant, previously chief operating officer of Retirement Angels, will now become head of Annuity Direct.
Mr Higham said: “When we originally bought Annuity Direct our ambition was to be known as the company that provided the best possible outcome for people who were converting their pension savings into a retirement income. Having fought hard to gain that reputation it was important for us to work with a company that held those same values.”
Adviser view
Joss Harwood, director of County Durham-based Eldon Financial Planning, said: “It is always good when a well-known brand decides to wholeheartedly move into a new market, as that brand gives consumers confidence.
“Prince Charles has just highlighted, in his video address to the National Association of Pension Funds, how pension funds need to be more long-term, so Fidelity needs to address how incomes can be sustained over longer periods than ever.”
Fidelity in figures
- £10.469bn worth of defined contribution pensions assets*
- 451 DC schemes*
- 300,000 DC members**
- DC provider since 1994
**correct as of 21.10.13
*correct as of 30.09.2012
