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SimplyBiz teams up with Aviva for DB transfer referrals

SimplyBiz Group has teamed up with Aviva Financial Advice to offer an outsourcing solution to its members who are not operating in the defined benefits transfer market space.

As part of the agreement, Aviva Financial Advice, which launched an abridged DB advice service in November 2020, and SimplyBiz member firms, will be able to access both this and the full advice proposition through the bureau.

The DB transfer referral bureau panel provides a solution to those SimplyBiz members who are either unable to, or choose not to, operate in the DB transfer market, but still want to meet the needs of their clients in this area.

This latest appointment follows the group’s announcement last year in May when it revealed its sixth DB transfer bureau partner Eadon and Co, led by a former Personal Finance Society chief executive, Tim Eadon. 

SimplyBiz Group compliance director Gary Kershaw says he expects demand for support around the DB advice process to rise further throughout 2021 as firms decide not to offer DB pension transfer advice.

He says: “Policy change and growing consumer interest in pension transfers during 2020 meant that we needed to increase the amount of regulatory support we were providing to our member firms in this key area.

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“Expanding and strengthening the bureau panel is another layer of support, ensuring that we are helping firms who are unable to, or have chosen not to, provide advice on pension transfers themselves still deliver good outcomes to their clients.”

Aviva Financial Advice managing director Mary Harper adds: “There are many reasons why some firms are no longer willing to offer advice on DB transfers, but, if a customer wishes to review the whole of their wealth and retirement strategy, it is an incomplete picture without considering what is the best choice for them if they have a DB pension as part of their retirement savings.

“We are delighted to be able to offer a DB advice service if customers and advisers find themselves in that position. Since we started offering DB advice in 2019, we have seen demand and business grow, and believe that this will only continue.

“We are all agreed on the need for our industry to work towards closing the advice gap, to ensure best possible outcomes for customers. We hope that making more advice more widely available will be a part of that.”

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