With regard to today’s announcement by the Treasury, we fully endorse their approach in leaving the issue of the price cap open to consultation so that we can continue the discussion on what an appropriate pricing structure would look like.
With regard to today’s announcement by the Treasury, we fully endorse their approach in leaving the issue of the price cap open to consultation so that we can continue the discussion on what an appropriate pricing structure would look like.
We share the Government’s vision of a retail financial services market where ‘efficient providers of good value products that meet consumer needs are able to prosper’, and agree with the proposal to commission independent research to establish whether any price cap meets the needs of consumers, industry and Government.
By better understanding how the UK savings market really operates, we believe the Government can achieve a stronger consensus on what will make these products attractive to sell as well as attractive to buy.
Commenting, Peter Hales, Sales & Marketing Director at Norwich Union Life, said: “The approach the Government is taking suggests they are keen that Sandler ‘stakeholder’ products prove commercially viable for all. We think that’s the right approach. To ensure success, these new suite of products need to be right from the start. We remain convinced that without a move away from the 1% price cap these products will not be successful.
“In relation to the product proposals, we are pleased the Government takes the view that a transparent with-profits style product which offers smoothed exposure to equity markets is likely to be valuable to many in the target market for these new products. This further re-affirms how important lower risk investments with smoothing are to UK consumers and builds on the Raising Standards initiative to create greater transparency.
“In addition, the proposal to bring the current stakeholder pension within the new suite of products is something we strongly support. This will provide much needed simplicity for consumers and the industry.”
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Press office contacts:
James Evans, Norwich Union Life 08703 66 68 78
Out of hours 07790 487105
Ian Beggs, Norwich Union Life 08703 66 68 71
Out of hours 07790 487533
Louise Goffee, Norwich Union Life 08703 66 68 70
Out of hours 07810 057362
Notes to editors
- Norwich Union is the UK’s largest insurer. It is the UK’s largest provider of life, pensions and investment products and one of the leading IFA providers. IFAs provide around 75% of the company’s long-term savings business.
- Norwich Union has strategic alliances with building societies and other leading UK brand names including Tesco Personal Finance and The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
- Norwich Union’s news releases are available on the Aviva plc website at www.aviva.com
- A selection of images are available from the Norwich Union Newscast site at www.newscast.co.uk