FASA 2023
Special Awards

Company of the Year

Royal London has often been a five-star winner at the Financial Adviser Service Awards, with advisers consistently giving the provider high scores across various categories.

This year, the company saw its 15th consecutive five-star award for pensions service, while its protection arm saw it receive its 10th consecutive five-star rating.

Considering all that has happened in the past 15 years – various European and UK insurance directives and regime changes; Brexit; the Covid-19 pandemic; and the cost of living crisis – to get consistently high scores, year in, year out, is a feat worth celebrating.

Royal London also scored highly in the Investments category, indicating that top-quality service is being put in place across all its various product and service lines to advisers and their clients.

According to Will Pritchett, group chief operating officer at Royal London, this is a mark of "hard work" and continuous investment in people and processes.

He said: "It’s a huge achievement for us to be recognised for consistent five-star service over such a significant length of time in both pensions and protection.

"The only way that is achieved is through hard work, continuous investment and a relentless focus on our customer-centric culture. We listen intently and are responsive to adviser ideas and feedback.

"As well as our focus on delivering fund performance, first-class customer service is always a priority, and we are very grateful for the continued support from advisers.”

simoney.kyriakou@ft.com

Outstanding Achievement

The company chosen for the Outstanding Achievement award in the 2023 FASAs is no stranger to the advisory market.

Just received brilliant scores and ratings from advisers voting in this year's FASAs, in both the Mortgages and Pensions and Protection categories.

It has been awarded a five-star rating each year for the past 19 years – a tremendous achievement.

This is especially noteworthy, considering the challenges of the past decade – not least the Covid-19 pandemic and the huge drop in pension provider share prices in 2014, which happened immediately after former chancellor George Osborne's comments in the Budget that nobody would ever have to buy an annuity again.

The group has also received eight five-star and two four-star rankings over the past 10 years in the mortgages category, showing again those levels of consistency in terms of delivering service to advisers and to their clients.

Stephen Lowe, group communications director at retirement specialist Just Group, said: “We help people achieve a better later life – it’s our purpose and why we exist. The skill and professionalism of advisers, paraplanners and intermediaries on behalf of their clients creates the opportunity for us to fulfil that purpose.

"When advisers place their clients’ business with us we understand this is more than a financial transaction.

"It’s an act of trust that we’ll do the right thing by their client. Offering consistently outstanding service is a way we win and retain that trust, and so we see the FASAs as a barometer of how we’re doing.

"We’re honoured to receive such recognition this year. Thank you to everyone who voted for us – and thank you for putting your trust in us."

simoney.kyriakou@ft.com

Readers’ Choice

There has been a lot of consolidation in the platforms world over the past few years. Naturally this comes with complications, not least the integration of technology and people and systems, which has often left advisers feeling frustrated.

So it is heartening to see so many advisers stating that, during a difficult time for platforms – as evidenced by fewer five-star winners this year than in previous years – Embark, the platform bought by Lloyds and integrated and rebranded to Scottish Widows in 2023, has been able to shake off some big challenges this year and secure a five-star rating from advisers.

It is all the more noticeable given recent headlines about advisers being generally discouraged by the way in which platforms have serviced them and their clients in 2023, which makes the five-star awards and chart-topping scores for Embark stand out.

Advisers were asked for their reasons for scoring Embark so highly, with many citing a noticeable improvement in technology following news reports by FT Adviser in 2022, when NetWealth's study criticised several advised investment platforms, including the then Advance by Embark, for being "digital laggards".

The improvements include a brand new interface, “broader and deeper” integration with adviser back office systems to reduce the need for manual processes, tiered charging on family linked accounts, greater flexibility for advisers to set and time charges, and the ability for general investment accounts to be written in trust.

There is more room to go, of course. Recent stories by FT Adviser indicate there have been some service problems in September, leading to some advisers hesitating before re-platforming clients. These issues have, and are, being addressed and advisers have said individual front-line staff handling their queries have been "friendly and co-operative".

Generally, the integration is proving positive, with advisers commending Lloyds for investing in technology and taking Embark (now Scottish Widows) into 2024. One said: "While there undoubtedly will be teething issues, digitisation of older platforms and assets can only be a good thing.”

Another adviser said: "What they can bring to the table is technology, which in this day and age of pension planning and defined benefit pension transfer advice is critical."

According to a spokesperson, Scottish Widows "is committed to supporting advisers and their clients – putting expertise and innovation at the heart of their 'Taking on the future together' promise.

"They continually work to deliver service, support and proposition improvements."

simoney.kyriakou@ft.com