Scottish Friendly has launched an Isa brand called My Prime Investments targeting customers who are higher net worth than its core base.
With a focus on lower cost index tracking investments, the new brand offers an investment Isa to customers looking to save around £250 a month - though the minimum required is just £50.
Investors are only able to choose from nine funds, but Jill Mackay, head of marketing at the provider, said it has been designed as a straightforward alternative to rivals in the market such as Hargreaves Lansdown, which offers investors a "bewildering" choice of thousands of funds.
The Prime Investment (Isa) is competitive - with an all in annual management charge of 0.5 per cent a year, regardless of investment fund choice, which combines the fund management and Isa charge.
However Scott Gallacher, a chartered financial planner at Leicester-based Rowley Turton, pointed out also quoted by Scottish Friendly is a 0.60 per cent portfolio transaction cost, giving a more expensive total cost of 1.10 per cent.
Neil Lovatt, commercial director at Scottish Friendly, said the rest of the industry remains fixated on creating confusing products and "then attempts to fix the customer".
"Our mission is to fix the product. So we’re always putting the needs of the customer first, by offering straightforward investing, to entice more people to invest.
"Currently, Isas put too many people off investing in stocks and shares. Charges are opaque, there are too many funds to choose from and people are stuffed into a single Isa account when in practice they have many different goals for their money.
"The launch of My Prime Investments is designed to tackle that problem."
The stocks and shares Isa funds range from a cash fund to those offering greater exposure to stock markets.
For the more cautious investor, the with-profits fund offers a guaranteed minimum cash sum of all of their money back if they cash in on the 10th anniversary of their investment, with potential annual bonuses.
An investment in the fund also gives a life insurance benefit, with the investor's receiving at least the minimum guaranteed cash sum.
It also has a feature which Scottish Friendly said is unique that gives investors the option to wrap multiple accounts within their Isa. Accounts can be linked to different funds and payment amounts, and crucially they can be given specific names to highlight an individual’s investment goals.
The Isa can be opened with a lump sum of at least £500 and a regular investment from £50 a month, or both.
But Mr Gallacher said he did not anticipate this being of much interest to his clients.
"There is a limited range of funds and it’s surprisingly difficult to find much information from them from Scottish Friendly.
"Whilst the Scottish Friendly website does provide a link to the relevant key investor documents these are not that helpful.
"For example, the UK Tracker one doesn’t even tell you which index it tracks. I believe it’s the FTSE 100 and suspect that it’s a licencing issue that’s the problem but it’s still less than helpful.
"The Medium fund is also somewhat woolly and I was unable to find a specific breakdown of it’s asset allocation.
"Overall I can’t see us rushing to use it any time soon."
Funds available in the My Prime Investments stocks and shares Isa:
Higher Fund
Legal & General European Index Trust, Legal & General UK Index Trust, Legal & General US Index Trust
Medium Fund
Legal & General European Index Trust, Legal & General All Stocks Gilt Index Trust, Legal & General Pacific Index Trust, Legal & General UK Index Trust, Legal & General US Index Trust
Lower Fund
Legal & General High Income Index Trust, Legal & General European Index Trust, Legal & General All Stocks Gilt Index Trust, Legal & General Pacific Index Trust, Legal & General UK Index Trust, Legal & General US Index Trust
Unitised With-Profits Fund
managed by Scottish Friendly
UK Tracker Fund
linked to the Legal & General UK Index Trust
UK Active Fund
linked to the Scottish Friendly Asset Managers UK Growth OEIC
UK Government Bond Fund
linked to the Legal & General All Stocks Gilt Index
International Company Bond Fund
linked to the Legal & General Fixed Interest fund
Guaranteed Cash Fund
managed by Scottish Friendly
