A handful of pension providers have developed plans to support advisers and address any concerns that they may have, while also ensuring they are kept up to date with technical information and informing them of any changes to normal services.
Aegon, Aviva and Scottish Widows have all launched adviser hubs. Aviva’s Covid-19 hub provides advisers with news relating to Aviva’s response to the crisis.
It includes information on pension products, the Aviva platform and investments as well as any business updates.
Aegon has published technical content on its hub as well as podcasts and webinars covering popular topics and market developments.
Meanwhile Scottish Widows’ hub provides advisers with tools and guides, for example the provider has published a guide on employer contributions looking at whether an employer should still pay into a scheme if the employee stops making contributions, among other issues.
Canada Life is looking to launch an information hub in the next couple of weeks which will see all of its Covid-19 information put into one place.
Paul Keeble, head of media at Canada Life, said: “We have messages live on our websites and social channels, and have written to intermediaries across our insurance, wealth and asset management businesses to inform them of the steps we are taking to protect our staff and continue to deliver on our promises to them and their clients, and introduce our new ways of working.
“In the next week or so we are also launching an information hub for advisers, which brings all of our current Covid-19 content under one roof while also providing an outlet for future communication and business updates.”
Aviva has also teamed up with the Lang Cat to host a series of podcasts looking at areas of concern for advisers, with the first in the series launching tomorrow (April 7).
A spokesperson from Aviva told FTAdviser: “We’re having each of the identified key areas as a live webcast, hosted by the Lang Cat and featuring both leaders in Aviva and experts from external companies.
“The first will be Tuesday at 11am, featuring Phil Ralli (platform development lead) and hosted by Lang Cat’s Mark Polson. The focus of this session will be to answer 'what are your immediate concerns now and how can we support you?'.
“This will take a look into what changes have been made to Aviva processes, what tools are already in place to make transacting remotely with Aviva easier and a high-level view of what tools are out there in the wider market for advisers to be making use of.”
Meanwhile Aegon has introduced a web chat function on its Aegon platform to assist any adviser with queries they may have.
Ronnie Taylor, chief distribution officer at Aegon, said: “At a time like this when there is so much uncertainty at play, the role of communications and listening to what our customers need is more important than ever.
“Our distribution team has always been an important point of contact for advisers, but now in particular, they’re at the end of the phone ready to support advisers who like all of us are getting to grips with what is a unique set of circumstances.
“In addition we’ve made some changes to the way we service customers including the introduction of web chat on the Aegon platform and have revised a number of processes.
“This includes the ability for advisers to submit instructions online and also the ability for advisers to submit documentation without the customer's signature where we are now using an alternative verification processes.”
Canada Life is also accepting scanned copies of documentation and looking at alternative ways to accept advisers' forms.
Mr Keeble said: “We’ve very quickly moved to a virtual working environment from largely office based, with almost all of our employees now working from home. This crucially includes our contact centres and technical support which continue to operate normally.
“From a sales perspective we now accept scanned copies of application forms, and are also looking at how we might be able to offer writable PDFs for our most common forms.”
Meanwhile Scottish Widows has introduced priority services so vulnerable clients are served first.
Jackie Leiper, distribution director at Scottish Widows, said: “We are prioritising critical processes such as getting payments out to vulnerable customers and we’re reminding advisers to visit our online services where possible.
“Our robust online services are also available for advisers on Retirement Account and protection for new and existing clients. If advisers are not already registered, they can do so online with some additional steps that may need to be completed.”
amy.austin@ft.com
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