Zurich latest to offer non-advised drawdown

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Zurich latest to offer non-advised drawdown

Zurich is set to launch non-advised drawdown products for its corporate pension clients in the third quarter this year and is also considering expanding this to retail customers.

A spokesman for the insurer explained that currently it only offers drawdown via advisers, but is developing a proposition to be offered via corporate pension schemes, which currently have around 50,000 members approaching retirement.

The firm is reviewing whether two other client streams - the 200,000 ‘in-force’ legacy customers currently over 55 years of age and retail customers on the platform - will be given access via the non-advised route at a later date.

The spokesman stated that retirement planning is an important decision, so Zurich continues to recommend seeking guidance and advice, but it also does not want that to be a barrier to consumers, so is trying to find a balance between the two.

Drawdown details, including possible restrictions on minimum pot sizes and the range of investments involved, are yet to be finalised.

So far some of the other life and pension businesses have revealed their propositions with regards to non-advised drawdown.

Back in February, Aegon said it was looking to work with advisers to make their Retiready non-advised digital platform available to those customers in need of a cost effective alternative to full advice. At that stage Scottish Widows also announced it would allow non-advised drawdown to customers with at least £10,000 in their pension pot.

In June, Standard Life launched a new ‘ready made’ non-advised drawdown option, designed to help savers spread investment risk, while aiming to grow savings throughout a person’s entire retirement.

peter.walker@ft.com