LV= launches another service commitment

The LV= Life and Pensions business has celebrated the first six months since the successful acquisition and launch of its new flexible retirement solutions business, by launching a further ‘money where its mouth is' service commitment to financial advisers and their clients.

LV= now promises to pay all Annuity Pension planners their tax-free cash within five working days of receiving all funds and/or documentation, or £1,000 compensation will be paid directly to them.

This latest service commitment to financial advisers and their clients builds on the launch in February 2008 of the LV= ‘money where its mouth is' commitment relating to Unsecured Pension (Income Drawdown) plans. Under this scheme, LV= commits to paying tax-free cash to Unsecured Pension plan holders within seven working days or paying £1,000 compensation.

LV= is the only provider in the life and pensions market to pay this level of compensation to customers in this way if they do not receive their tax-free cash on time.

Matt Trott, Head of Annuities at LV=, commented: "We have been working hard to streamline the process of purchasing an enhanced annuity, and we are delighted that we have full online quotation capability on The Exchange and Webline, as well as being able to provide pre-populated application forms and comparative quotes. However, we are also aware of the need to process applications as efficiently as possible, and this is why we regularly chase the ceding scheme for funds, and have made this commitment to pay customers their tax-free cash within five days."

Steve Hunt, Managing Director at Rockingham Retirement, said: "This is an excellent initiative from LV=. In our experience our customers make their plans based upon receiving their tax free cash within a reasonable timescale of purchasing their annuity. All too often they have been let down with delays in making these payments to them, causing disruption to their planning, as well as hardship in cases where they have been relying on receiving their money."

Rodney Cook, Managing Director of the LV= Life and Pensions business confirmed: "We have made great strides in the annuity market already this year, having launched our market-leading Enhanced With Profit Pension Annuity in April. We announced this month that financial advisers are now able to obtain real-time quotations for their clients via The Exchange's Exweb. Further, this latest initiative shows that we really are prepared to put our money where our mouth is and commit to providing financial advisers and their clients with industry-leading service."