Standard Life backs with-profits

Standard Life has defended the role of with-profits as a mass market investment vehicle but said the industry needs to act to increase transparency. Chris Hancorn, sales development actuary for Standard Life, noted the concept of with-profits is not only favoured by the life industry. He cited FSA chairman Howard Davies and the Consumers Association backing the vehicle for its smoothing of returns and ability to outperform deposit rates. With 11 million investors and more than £320bn under management, with-profits products are the natural savings vehicle for the UK consumer, according t...