Friends Provident adds 25 new funds to its corporate pension platform

Friends Provident, the FTSE 100 life and pensions company, has added 25 new funds to its corporate pension fund platform, increasing the total number of fund choices to 83 and introducing for the first time leading funds from AEGON, AllianceBernstein, Cazenove, JP Morgan, Schroders and State Street Global Advisors.

The new options include a total return fund, a global property securities fund and a range of enhanced equity index strategies. The choice of fixed interest funds has also been significantly strengthened following adviser feedback. The growing demand for more sophisticated funds and greater investment choice has been a key driver behind many of these new fund additions.

Marc Haynes, manager of the Fund Strategy & Selection Group at Friends Provident, said: “These new fund additions are part of our ongoing strategy to maintain a market leading investment platform. They will give scheme members additional options and enable them to build more tailored portfolios to meet their retirement needs whatever their age.

“Friends Provident’s corporate pension fund platform is regarded as one of the most tightly governed in the market, comprising some of the best quality funds available and covering a wide spread of asset classes and styles. Behind the platform lies a rigorous fund selection and deselection process and the changes we have made are evidence of that process at work and underline the fact that the investment proposition is being actively managed in the best interests of our scheme members.”

The Friends Provident corporate pension platform includes 18 investment partners offering more than 80 active and passive funds.