LV= makes low cost SIPP offer permanent

Retirement specialist LV= has made the low cost version of its SIPP, the Flexible Transitions Account (FTA), a permanent product offering. LV= launched the discounted offer in September 2010 with an original end date of 31 March 2011.

The low cost FTA has already attracted £25 million of new business since launch, showing a demand from clients for initial access to a simple range of funds, with the flexibility to upgrade easily to a more sophisticated range of features and benefits as their needs change. In addition, LV='s standard FTA has seen a 25% uplift in sales against the same period last year and is on target to sell over £500m this year.

The FTA discounted product offers up to 45% off the standard annual service charge. Clients can choose from 26 funds such as passive/tracker, actively managed sector funds, and risk-graded multi-asset funds. For example, a customer investing in FTA using State Street's Balanced Consensus fund could be charged just 0.93% a year (including ongoing commission at 0.5%.)

Ray Chinn, LV= head of pensions, comments: "We have had excellent feedback from advisers following the launch of our FTA discount, and it is encouraging to see this translate into new business. The success of the special offer confirmed our view that there is a significant market for simple, low cost pensions that clients can upgrade to more sophisticated solutions as and when required. Combining this with the use of our risk profiling technology we can now help advisers demonstrate a clear end to end process for their pensions clients whilst keeping costs competitive."