Fintech firm Profile Pensions has introduced a ‘robo-advice’ service which gives personalised, impartial investment advice to savers with the option of speaking to a human adviser if further explanation is needed.
The service allows savers to sign up online and get personalised investment advice and a dedicated pension adviser to speak to.
Individuals can choose to transfer existing pensions as well as set up contributions into the new plan, and will pay an annual fee of 0.85 per cent, including the cost of ongoing advice.
The firm said Profile Pensions offers actual advice, rather than guidance, using technology to come up with personalised investment strategies while being able to keep costs low.
The firm then allocates a human pension adviser to explain pension investments to savers in further detail if needed.
According to the firm, its annual costs of 0.85 per cent compares to annual costs of between 0.7-1.10 per cent from other robo-advisers and 0.5-0.95 per cent from other digital pension companies.
Jordan Mayo, CEO of Profile Pensions, said: “From our experience of talking to pension savers, we have built something unique in the market that customers want - a personalised investment strategy, impartial fund manager selection and a human adviser whenever they are needed.
“And we deliver all of this for a similar total annual fee as a ‘robo adviser’ or self service pension provider. Why pay the same fees for a self service pension?”
Mayo added the service would choose assets and funds from over 40,000 funds in the market, including ESG options.
He said: “Our ongoing advice service ensures our customers’ pensions are always in the right place for them.”
There have been a number of firms which have set up robo-advice services in the retirement space over the past year.
In March, Just Group's advice arm launched an automated retirement advice service to bridge the advice gap for people with modest pensions and investments.
Then in July, Chancery Lane was created as a pensions robo-adviser targeting savers with pots of over £250,000 and focusing solely on decumulation.
M&G Wealth is also planning to develop a low-cost hybrid robo-advice offering.
But a number of robo-advisers have closed their doors as well.
At the beginning of the year (January 28), Scalable Capital closed its doors to the direct-to-consumer UK wealth market.
In June, JPMorgan Chase acquired robo-adviser Nutmeg for an undisclosed amount.
Canadian robo-adviser Wealthsimple announced its plan to sell the UK client book it has been growing since 2017 to Moneyfarm, one of its UK rivals, last week (December 6).
amy.austin@ft.com
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