Royal London Ireland has become the first new pension provider in Ireland for over a decade, and the first life assurance company provider to enter the Irish pensions market for more than 30 years.
The British life and pensions provider has announced the development of new pensions produdts that will be offered exclusively through financial brokers.
The company will initially offer a personal retirement bond (PRB) and an approved retirement fund (ARF) without policy fees or fund switching charges, plus automatic portfolio rebalance and ValueShare, a payment that will be added to customer fund returns in years that the company does well.
Noel Freeley, CEO of Royal London Ireland, commented: "Following several years of behind-the-scenes work, intense consultation with financial brokers and a multi-million capital investment, we have been able to create a compelling pension proposition that will deliver value for money and competitive pricing for customers, combined with access to two leading asset managers Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) and BlackRock.
"Underpinned by strong customer service, our pension products will provide positive competition in terms of innovation, pricing and transparency, with no fixed or monetary policy fees or fund switching charges.
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"This expansion represents the next stage of development in our ongoing growth in Ireland. We’re in a position where we’re market leader in broker protection products and where we have increased our broker protection estimated market share from 22.5% to 30.2% since 2020, so we have a strong distribution platform to build from."
“The competition in Ireland’s pensions market has been largely unchanged for some time. New entrants are rare, primarily due to the level of investment required to deliver a high-value product and the expertise demanded to build a robust service support platform.
In the UK, Royal London is the largest mutual life and pensions provider, with responsibility for more than 21,000 workplace pensions schemes and 1.6m members.
Assets under management by Royal London Asset Management total €174bn, including funds managed on behalf of third parties. BlackRock has nearly $8.5tn in assets under management.
Freeley said he hoped Royal London's expansion into the pension market would illustrate the company's ambitions for Royal London Ireland to replicate the group's success in the UK.
"Benefiting from a mutual parent company, our pension products have been driven by our mutual mindset which aims to help customers build their financial resilience and invest in a responsible way that delivers a world worth retiring into," he continued.
"We believe that the impartial advice provided by a Financial Broker can make a huge difference. Service from providers has been a big challenge across the Irish pension sector over the last 12-18 months.
"Royal London Ireland is well positioned to address this service deficit utilising our breadth of experience in the life insurance sector in providing award-winning service.”
