Press Releases - 2008

Macrobites - November 2008

Ascentric, the whole of market Wrap platform, is delighted to announce that advisers can now access Talbot Muir for SSAS and TM SIPP services for SIPPs on their platform.

According to a recent survey by Bright Grey, a protection specialist within the Royal London Group, price is the biggest influence on an adviser's choice of provider when writing business protection business, with 85% of advisers basing their decision on cost.

It is correct that governments around the world have moved to assist in recapitalising their banking sectors. Without this we were facing an increasingly bleak prospect involving the wholesale loss of confidence in the industry.

Following reports that UBS is to close its platform for external Discretionary Fund Managers (DFMs), Ascentric, the whole of market wrap provider, will make it as quick and easy as possible for the DFMs and the IFAs affected to transfer their client’s assets on to the Ascentric platform.

Ascentric, the whole of market Wrap provider, announces two new senior appointments. Shaun Sandiford as Head of Sales and Dominic Ventham as Head of Marketing. Both join the company on 10 November.

Ascentric, the whole of market Wrap provider, announces the appointment of Mike Stacey as new Head of Dealing.

Royal London, the UK’s largest mutual life and pensions company, has published its Interim Management Statement and new business results for the nine months ending 30 September 2008.

Macrobites - October 2008

Bright Grey, a specialist protection business providing flexible menu plans, has extended the definitions of three critical Illnesses it covers and added a further two definitions as from today, 27 October.

Royal London, the UK's largest mutual life and pensions company, is delighted to announce the Technical Team for Royal London 360°, its new international business.

Ascentric was jointly awarded ‘Best New Platform’ at the ‘adnitor 2008 UK Platform Awards Dinner’ last night (Tuesday 21 October). The awards, in conjunction with CWC Research, were held at the Café Royal in London.

Scottish Life, the pensions specialist arm of the Royal London Group, has highlighted the potential dangers of 'active member discount' (AMD) charging structures in a document for IFAs.

Following its recent campaign on behalf of IFAs to persuade all platforms to offer re-registration, Ascentric, the whole of market wrap provider, has further emphasised its commitment to IFAs and the principles of ‘Treating Customers Fairly’ (TCF) by providing IFAs with access to the ‘TCF Centre’ facility at a significant discount of 20%.

Royal London, the UK’s largest mutual life and pensions company, has appointed Duncan Hanlon as Group Financial Controller, reporting to Stephen Shone, Group Finance Director.

It is increasingly clear that the unravelling of previous excesses in all aspects of the economy is accelerating. However, action in the UK still appears to be happening on a case by case basis.

Bright Grey, a specialist protection business providing flexible menu plans, has launched an online lifestyle calculator for advisers, designed to work out clients' monthly expenditure and help demonstrate how much protection they can afford.

Interim results from Royal London.

Around 100 staff from the Royal London Group, the UK’s largest mutual life and pensions company, converged on Greenwich Park on Sunday 21st September to join 1100 other runners and walkers in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Greater London Walk to Cure Diabetes, helping to raise a total of £240,000 for this important charity.

Having been underweight the Financial sector all year, both in banks and insurers, Kevin Lilley, manager of the Royal London European Growth Trust, moved to a neutral weighting in both areas yesterday.

Employees of Island based Scottish Life International (“SLI”) are standing in full support of their parent company, Royal London Group, in an attempt to raise money for Juvenile Diabetes research.

Bath based Fundsdirect, the UK’s first investment funds supermarket for consumers, has been given a brand new look following its rapid growth over the last two years and to communicate clearly its activities

Royal London Asset Management announces the promotion of Stephanie O’Boyle from Asset Manager to Assistant Fund Manager on RLAM’s Central London Office portfolio.

Bright Grey, a specialist protection business providing flexible menu plans, has carried out an in-depth study of consumers' attitudes to insurance and used the results to launch a campaign that will help advisers address a reduction in income through falling mortgage sales and sell more protection.

Royal London has revealed that its combined international businesses will be named Royal London 360° when the Isle of Man based operation launches in 2009.

Bright Grey, a protection specialist within the Royal London Group, has achieved a rating of 98% from the Financial Technology Research Centre, for its new 'extended data pre-population' online software integration with True Potential.

New brand identities have been given to the Ascentric Wrap and Fundsdirect brands to clearly communicate their respective activities.

Ascentric’s new Indian operation in Bangalore has been given a traditional Hindu ceremony consecrating the office to provide prosperity and success for all those who work there.

Scottish Life, the pensions specialist arm of the Royal London Group, has relaunched a range of support material for employers and advisers to help them set up and run successful salary sacrifice schemes.

Before August 2007 the relationship of 3 month LIBOR to base rate was largely determined by the market’s view on the future course of base rate.

The Royal London UK Special Situations Trust has enjoyed a first year of excellent relative performance since its launch on 20th July 2007.

Royal London, the UK’s largest mutual life and pensions company, has announced the executive team which will lead its international business. The combination of the Scottish Life International and Scottish Provident International businesses, which was announced on 10 June, will increase Royal London’s growth in the offshore sector and substantially enhance the scale of its operations.

Specialist IHT plans for IFAs from Isle of Man Assurance (IOMA) are now available on Ascentric the whole of market Wrap platform.

Ascentric, the whole of market Wrap provider, is pleased to announce a senior appointment within the Business Development team, to assist with the promotion of its services to major IFA accounts, national adviser groups and IFA networks.

Royal London, the UK’s largest mutual life and pensions company, has announced continued growth in new business for the half year to end June 2008.

Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) is delighted to announce the appointment of two new recruits to its Fixed Interest and Quant teams.

Royal London, the UK’s largest mutual life and pensions company, has announced a major milestone in its acquisition of various assets and businesses from Pearl Group.

Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) is pleased to announce the appointment of Carola Lawton-Browne to the new position of Portfolio Risk Manager within its investment team.

Scottish Life, the pensions specialist arm of the Royal London Group, has launched a series of technical information leaflets on income drawdown to help IFAs advise their clients appropriately and determine whether income drawdown is a suitable retirement option.

Ascentric, the whole of market Wrap Platform now offers IFAs the opportunity to select the Castleton Growth Fund from Barmac Asset Management Limited, from amongst its 150 fund managers and 2,000 funds

Ascentric, the whole of market Wrap Provider, is pleased to announce three new appointments that further strengthen the new business and transition teams providing support to new and existing IFA users of the platform.

July issue of Macrobites from RLAM

Scottish Life, the pensions specialist arm of the Royal London Group, is pleased to announce the promotion of Chris Peart to the position of Individual Business Marketing Manager.

Scottish Life International (SLI) has entered a strategic partnership with Allfunds Bank, one of the foremost third-party investment fund specialists in Europe. The agreement allows SLI to link its international products to Allfunds’ extensive fund range on competitive terms.

Bright Grey, the protection specialist arm of the Royal London Group, has designed online software to enhance its e-commerce proposition. It allows software vendors to quickly and easily integrate their systems to Bright Grey's operating system and convert data from external platforms to a common language.

Ascentric, the Independent Wrap Provider, announces three new appointments, within Business Development and Operations.

Bright Grey, the protection specialist arm of the Royal London Group, has reviewed its Personal Protection Menu and enhanced the features to increase the flexibility of its proposition.

The Royal London UK Strategic Growth Trust has enjoyed a strong second year since its launch on 1st June 2006, achieving a return of 8.63% p.a.* since inception, outperforming the UK All Companies sector average by 3.51% p.a.* and achieving a 14th percentile sector ranking.

Ascentric, the Independent Wrap Provider, announces two key Management appointments, David Harvey, as IT Director and Alex Mitchell, the new Programme Manager.

Bright Grey, the protection specialist arm of Royal London, has been appointed to the St James's Place protection panel.

City Financial, the London-based asset management group, has signed an agreement with Investment Funds Direct Limited, the providers of the Ascentric Wrap platform.

From 1st July 2008 Ascentric, the Independent Wrap provider, will introduce three new tiers of higher interest rates for cash held on their platform.

Ascentric, the Independent Wrap Provider, announce that Stenham Asset Management and MFS Investment Management have joined its expanding list of fund managers, bringing the total funds available via the wrap platform to around 2,000.

Ascentric, the Independent Wrap Provider, announces two new appointments, within the areas of Business Development and Operations, who will support IFAs - with more new staff to join in the next couple of months.

Royal London, the UK’s largest mutual life and pensions company, has announced its intention to combine its international businesses, Scottish Provident International Life Assurance (SPILA) and Scottish Life International (SLI), to create a business with the scale to compete more aggressively in the international marketplace.

Pensions Radio, the regular podcasts from Scottish Life, the pensions specialist arm of the Royal London Group, celebrates its first birthday this week.

Five years after introducing its version of Customer Agreed Remuneration (CAR), in May 2003, Scottish Life, the pensions specialist arm of the Royal London Group, has found that support from advisers for transparent, fee-based remuneration structures is stronger than ever.

Royal London, the UK's largest mutual life and pensions company, has announced the successful completion of the transfer of Scottish Provident International Life Assurance (SPILA) to become part of the Royal London Group.

Ascentric, the Independent Wrap Provider has become a corporate sponsor of the Institute of Financial Planning (IFP) as a further commitment to supporting Financial Planners, the backbone to the financial services sector.

At a keynote briefing for investors held in London at the end of April, Royal London Asset Management's (RLAM) Chief Investment Officer, Robert Talbut highlighted the macroeconomic context for current market conditions.

Scottish Life International has evaluated its range of draft trusts and is pleased to announce that they remain appropriate in the post budget environment.

Royal London, the UK’s largest mutual life and pensions company, has announced new business figures for the first quarter of 2008.

Royal London, the UK’s largest mutual life and pensions company, has welcomed today’s completion of Pearl’s acquisition of Resolution.

Fundsdirect today announces that Sterling Investment Bond valuations are now available on the Ascentric wrap platform.

Macrobites cover RLAM's monthly views on investment markets and features comments from Robert Talbut, CIO, Martin Cholwill, Senior Fund Manager and Ian Kernohan, Economist.

Martin Cholwill, manager of the Royal London Equity Income Trust, believes that, after years of buoyant trading helped by plentiful cheap credit and a belief amongst many that house prices could only go up, housebuilders face tougher times ahead.

Steve Bee, Head of Pensions Strategy at Scottish Life, the pensions specialist arm of the Royal London Group, has called on the government to ensure that new pensions legislation, which means two thirds of women will be eligible for the full basic state pension, is extended to fix the problem for all women.1

In response to the FSA Feedback Statement 08/1 Ascentric welcomed the clarification from the FSA that it viewed Life and Pension Wrappers as not ‘benign’, thus implying IFAs will find it difficult to justify exclusive use of any platform that does not offer a choice of product wrappers.

Scottish Life International has introduced a new trust unique to the retail, IFA and insurance market, enabling the Settlor to make a Potentially Exempt Transfer and establish a flexible trust.

Kevin Lilley, manager of the Royal London European Growth Trust, sees further downside to come in equity markets, despite action being taken by central banks to alleviate the repercussions of the global credit crisis.

Macrobites cover RLAM's monthly views on investment markets and features comments from Robert Talbut, CIO, Martin Cholwill, Senior Fund Manager and Ian Kernohan, Economist.

Royal London, the UK's largest mutual life and pensions company, has announced its financial results for 2007.

RLAM’s Bradley Mitchell sees strong growth potential in a little known oil exploration company.

Royal London, the UK’s largest mutual life and pensions company, has today announced bonuses for 2007 on its with profits policies. The announcement covers with profits policies written by Royal London, including those written under the Scottish Life brand since 1 July 2001.

Scottish Life, the pensions specialist arm of the Royal London Group, has reiterated the arguments against the sustainability of old-style, traditional commission models.

Royal London, the UK’s largest mutual life and pensions company, has announced revised bonus rates for conventional with profits policies in the closed Scottish Life Fund

Bright Grey, the protection specialist arm of the Royal London Group, will become the first UK protection provider to launch its own expert underwriting system when it goes live later this month. The online service called interactive quote and apply, speeds up the application process and improves the pass rate to enable clients to get cover more quickly.

Kind hearted staff from Edinburgh-based protection specialist Bright Grey have raised over £9000 for Barnardo’s Scotland. Bright Grey’s believe team held ‘From Edinburgh with Love’ a leap year themed evening at Le Monde, Edinburgh on Friday 29th February.

RLAM increases exposure to investment grade debt in multi-asset portfolios

Scottish Life, the pensions specialist arm of the Royal London Group, today announces the appointment of Joe McGrath and Ken Tymms as Corporate Pensions Managers.

Ascentric today announces a new product partnership with Zurich to provide the Sterling Investment Bond on the wrap platform.

Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) announces the appointment of specialist financial services PR company, Quill Communications as its retained PR consultancy.

Bright Grey, the protection specialist arm of Royal London Group, has launched its bespoke menu-based business protection proposition for the individual corporate protection market.

Despite forecasts of tough financial markets, Bright Grey, the protection specialist arm of the Royal London Group, has ambitions plans to build on its 16% growth in APE in 2007 by increasing its sales team.

Glasgow-based independent financial adviser Steven Haldane of Campbell Dallas Financial Services beat financial advisers from across Britain and was crowned ‘healthiest adviser’ by Bright Grey at an industry conference held recently in London

Glasgow-based independent financial adviser Steven Haldane of Campbell Dallas Financial Services beat financial advisers from across Britain and was crowned ‘healthiest adviser’ by Bright Grey at an industry conference held recently in London.

Royal London, the UK’s largest mutual life and pensions company, has announced new business results for the 12 months ending 31 December 2007.

Scottish Life, the pensions specialist arm of the Royal London Group, is giving customers extra choice by adding four leading investment partners and 16 new funds to its core investment range.

Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) has appointed Lisa Xiao as a Credit Analyst, reporting to RLAM’s Head of Fixed Interest, Jonathan Platt.

Bright Grey is pleased to announce the appointment of Neil Cameron as PR Manager.

Steve Bee, Head of Pensions Strategy at Scottish Life, the pensions specialist arm of the Royal London Group, has asked advisers whether they think that employers will reduce their contributions to existing schemes, or close them, once Personal Accounts are introduced in 2012.

Funds on the Ascentric Wrap platform have started 2008 at £225 million – up a further £50 million since October 2007 and more than double the £100 million announced in August 2007.