For example, in 2015 Cofunds and Suffolk Life were both owned by Legal and General, which had its own Sipp, but all three were listed as three different brands though there was a single provider.
Fast forward to 2017, Legal and General still has a Sipp. The Cofunds platform is now owned by Aegon and Suffolk Life by Curtis Banks. But both of these new owners were already in the market in 2015 with their own Sipp products.
So despite the fact there are now three Sipps with three different owners, these changes have no net effect on the number of brands in the market. Importantly for purposes of choice, this has had no effect on the number of providers as Aegon, Legal and General and Suffolk Life already existed in 2015.
This is not the case with providers like Hornbuckle or Rowanmoor who were separate entities in 2015 but are now both owned by Embark Group. The Embark Group did not appear as a Sipp provider in 2015, and nor does it appear on comparison tables in 2017. This means, therefore, that both these brands and providers now come under one, new, provider.
It sounds confusing but actually it points to a lack of wholesale contraction in the Sipp market, as brands have remained and so have most providers, despite some merger and acquisition activity.
Providers then and now
Take the Defaqto Engage data as an example of the way the market has actually moved since the legislation came into force.
On 1 September 2015 there were actually 73 providers on the Engage Sipp table, compared to 70 in 2017. These figures include both advised and direct Sipp providers and include the various mergers and takeovers that have occurred over the last 48 months, including the merger of Aberdeen and Standard Life, which is not driven by the Sipp business.
So it is clear the total number of actual providers (who may own one or more brands) has fallen slightly 12 months after the new regulations, compared with 12 months before.
Therefore, while the build-up to the legislation coming into force, and aftermath of the 1 September 2016 changes by the Financial Conduct Authority led to a bit of a shake-up, we have seen nothing like the contraction predicted or claimed thus far.
There are a few Sipps that have actively ceased trading since a takeover or merger but for the most part their brands continued in their own right even if the ownership has changed.
For example, on 1 September 2015, there were 133 Sipps on Engage, falling to 132 on 1 September 2016. But, as at 1 September 2017 there were 137 which shows that despite the actual number of providers shrinking slightly, the range of product choice has not.
