Norwich Union reduces charges to 1% maximum for existing individual and group personal pension customers

Norwich Union has confirmed that from 6th April next year it will not make any charge in excess of 1% per annum on existing individual or group personal pensions, putting it in line with the Government's stakeholder pensions charging limits. This commitment applies to all existing individual and group personal pensions regardless of whether the contract is with Norwich Union, CGU, Commercial Union, General Accident or Provident Mutual *.

This is in addition to Norwich Union's new range of personal pensions launched this year that have been designed for the stakeholder environment and already benefit from competitive charging structures i.e. Your Pension, Your Pension Select and Designer Pension.

Norwich Union is also pleased to announce that in putting this commitment in place there will be no change in renewal commission. There is no immediate change in initial commission; however, this position will be kept under review.

Jerry Barnfield, Director of Pensions Development at Norwich Union, commented "Since the announcement of stakeholder pensions, both Norwich Union and CGU have been at the forefront of offering IFAs solutions to support the sale of new business. Last month Norwich Union's stakeholder pension scheme became one of the first to be registered by OPRA and is now available for employers to designate as their approved stakeholder scheme.

This new commitment is a natural extension of our strategy and is excellent news for our existing personal pension customers. It should also offer IFAs significant comfort in knowing their customers will receive the advantage of Stakeholder comparable charging."

Notes to Editors

1. Norwich Union is the UK life and general insurance trading brand of holding company, CGNU plc, which was created from the merger between CGU and Norwich Union on 30 May 2000.
2. Norwich Union is the UK's largest life and pension company (based on 2000 new premium income).