Advisers have warned of a 'client grab' from providers as large companies launch digitised direct-to-customer services.
As reported in this week's print edition of Financial Adviser, Prudential is the latest provider to be accused of carrying out a "land grab" for advised clients with the launch of its guided cashing-out service for those using a Prudential retirement account.
According to Dave Penny, managing director at Invest Southwest, such services, which allow customers to withdraw cash without speaking with their advisers, are a "land grab" and one which could be "damaging to the best interests of our mutual clients".
Also in Financial Adviser this week were warnings of pension under-saving. Data provided by Dunstan Thomas showed too many Britons were paying the bare minimum into their pension pots - a problem exacerbated by so-called contribution holidays permitted by the government as a response to the Covid-19 crisis.
Elsewhere in Financial Adviser was a report on the "mixed bag of service levels" experienced by advisers and their clients when it came to various sectors of the financial services industry, as well as the all-important voting forms for the Financial Adviser Service Awards 2020.
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