Friends Provident New Generation Group Personal Pension

Friends Provident, the FTSE 100 life and pensions company, announced two major enhancements to its award winning corporate pensions offering.

Its New Generation Group Personal Pension will have wider investment flexibility through a SIPP option and increased retirement choices through an income withdrawal option.

SIPP option

The SIPP option, that can include protected rights, will give members access to a broad range of stocks, shares and collective investments through execution only stock-broking, fund supermarket and discretionary fund management services provided by carefully selected expert investment partners.

Employers will be able to choose whether to have the option added, which means that all members can be looked after in one Group Personal Pension scheme, avoiding the additional costs of running two separate schemes.

This is a fully integrated offering with no minimum holding required in unitised funds. Because there are no extra charges until the member activates the option, those scheme members who invest purely in unitised funds won’t have any additional costs. For those who do take up the option, the charging structure is clear and competitive.

Income withdrawal

Friends Provident’s income withdrawal administration system is fully integrated into its corporate pensions platform and was developed in conjunction with a leading industry expert supplier. The facility, which is also open to protected rights, is available to both new and existing New Generation Group Personal Pension schemes, irrespective of whether they take up the SIPP option.

Jeremy Ward, head of pensions marketing, said: “The corporate pensions market is changing rapidly and we have developed these options in response to an increasing demand for investment and retirement flexibility to enhance member control and choice.

“We have one of the most advanced pensions administration platforms in the marketplace - the development of SIPP and income withdrawal options that are fully integrated into that system represents a significant investment in our corporate pensions offering and demonstrates our continuing commitment to the corporate pensions marketplace.

“We are committed to providing a high quality service, so we have recruited specialist in-house administration teams to provide a dedicated administration service for SIPP and income withdrawal. This ensures that we retain full control of the service that the adviser, the employer and the member receives.”

For further information advisers should contact their Friends Provident consultant or visit friendsprovident.co.uk/adviser.