Sterling introduces Factory Gate Pricing on Investment Bond

In a bid to offer customers and advisers even greater choice, Sterling has introduced a new flexible version of its popular Investment Bond.

In addition to the existing benefits of the Bond, advisers will have a new, factory gate priced version, designed to allow flexible customer agreed remuneration.

Available immediately, the new flexible version will sit alongside the existing three charging structures of the Bond - High Allocation, Standard and No Exit penalty versions. As the base structure has no commission, it will be particularly attractive to fee charging IFAs and those already on a trail based business model. Once commission levels have been agreed with the customer, they can be paid for by initial charge, establishment charge, or fund based charge.

Advisers will also be able to request quotes and apply on-line through Zurich’s extranet, which has been significantly updated, for easy straight through processing.

Sterling has also developed the Flexible Terms Modeller, a user-friendly tool to enable advisers to model the different charges and remuneration available within the flexible version, and choose the most relevant solution to meet both the customer’s and adviser’s needs.

Paul Wright, Sterling’s Investment Management Director said: “We recognise that there is more than one distribution model that meets the needs of customers and distributors. We aim to make it as easy as possible for advisers to make the right choices for their customers and themselves, and to have access to the wide range of benefits that the Sterling Bond offers. Based on feedback from advisers, the ability to quote and apply for the Sterling Bond on Zurich’s updated extranet will be “the icing on the cake”.