A row is threatening to break out between Standard Life and financial advisers as the life office is introducing a client communications process to bypass advisers and obtain direct client signatures when requests are made for transfer values or transfer of pension and life contracts.
Introduced tomorrow (20th December), the process is said to be the result of Standard Life’s research into its own customers who have cancelled their with-profits policies, with the company claiming most of them – including those using financial advisers – “did not know that their plans included a growth guarantee”. It is this lack of awareness Standard Life cites when says it wants to issue new “explanatory guides” directly to all customers whenever it receives “a request from the customer or their adviser for a transfer or transfer value.” In a letter being sent to intermediaries, the...
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