In one case, Tim Morris, IFA with Russell & Co, said he has spent more than two weeks trying to sort out a basic top-up to a client's investment with Prudential.
He has blamed the admin processing and said he was "frustrated by the delays".
According to Mr Morris: "The issue stems from when the Pru previously asked me to provide a bank statement for the client for audit purposes.
"I duly complied with their request, even though the money was coming from the same bank account as their previous pension contributions. That was back in March 2019 and all seemed fine thereafter.
"But this year, upon attempting to make a further contribution, we encountered an error with their online system. It was late in the day and I thought this may be a website glitch so would try again the next day.
"The problem persisted so I contacted Prudential to get this resolved. They could not work out the issue so we arranged an online meeting to share my screen."
He said the problem remained unresolved, and had to be referred to another team. Mr Morris said: "I rang them and found them very unhelpful. The person I spoke to seemed to suggest the wrong information had been provided to them.
"This was not the case and it came across they were blaming me for their error." He said he was raising this as an official complaint with Prudential.
In response, a Prudential spokesman said: "As part of the client verification process, we require further information to be provided. We have been in contact with the adviser and as soon as these details are available, we’ll be in a position to process the top-up.”
When this was put to Mr Morris, he responded: "[Pru] appears to change their process each year and keep asking for further bank account verification. I will send it to them when I have it, yet I'm not happy about the delay and the fact my client could be disadvantaged by it."
His complaint over poor administration is not the only one. As FTAdviser reported in May, the shift to online processes prompted by the pandemic has meant advisers and clients are required to submit an email address when seeking to invest or transfer, and this has proved problematic for those whose older clients do not have such addresses.
The latest adviser expressing concern over the online Isa system is Ben Walters, founder of Portland Financial Planning. He said he had been frustrated when attempting to add an elderly client's money into a Prudential Isa, which is now online only.
He said when he questioned why Prudential is requiring an email address for the client, when most of his clients are elderly people in rural areas with low internet connectivity, he was told by a member of Prudential's admin team to "create one".
When he explained the client was elderly and without internet access, Mr Walters claimed he was told "put the email of a family member".
Mr Walters said this was a concern to him, as not only would this be questionable practice, given the importance of the GDPR, but also could leave "vulnerable" clients open to financial abuse by a family member who has access to the client's details.
In response, a spokesperson for the Prudential said: "The launch of our online Isa service aims to enhance the process for advisers and their clients, offering a number of benefits including signatureless application, faster business submissions and lower charges.
“While we can accept top-ups via post or email for existing clients, any new business should now be processed using the online service, which requires the client to provide an email address. This is important to ensure that both they and their adviser have access to the full range of services available.
“We are committed to reviewing the requirements of vulnerable clients on a case-by-case basis and will seek to adopt the best solution to meet their needs.”
But Mr Walters added: "It is an arrogant assumption that all people should have an email address – or that they need to have one. Most of our wealthy clients are from the farming industry and live in rural areas.
"They already feel alienated because of the closure of bank branches in local towns, and many of them live in internet blackout spots, with poor connectivity for mobile and broadband."
Responding to Mr Morris and Mr Walters, the Prudential spokesperson said: "We apologise if our service has fallen short of expectations and for any inconvenience caused.”
In May, FTAdviser reported how Mike Jordan, of Jordan Financial Management, said he "had been back and forth with his Prudential representative for the past three months" over the digitisation of Prudential's Isa service.
At the time, Prudential apologised if its administration – which is understood to be outsourced – did not meet expectations, but told FTAdviser that existing customers could still post or email a signed form via their adviser to top up their Isa and therefore would not need an email address.
However, this differed from information provided on both Prudential’s website and that given to Mr Jordan by the provider.
Since then, other advisers have raised similar complaints. Self-professed "semi-retired IFA" Mark Gunnell said: "All applications/top-ups are online and they require an individual email address. [It is a] bit difficult when Mr and Mrs both have an Isa with them and share the same email address."
Julian Pruggmayer, principal of FRM Capital Management, said: "I have had companies saying I have to set up emails for my clients, even on straightforward forms, such as basic life assurance renewals. I have had to add an email address for the client or the form cannot be processed."
Pensions technical specialist Caroline Singleton said in a tweet the drive online and demand for an email address seemed to be common across several large providers, but added there were exceptions for vulnerable clients.
She said: "One large provider has a ‘vulnerable client’ process, which allows clients to proceed without an email address. From experience, most clients who don’t have an email address tend to be older and so this solves the issue."
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com
