Direct-to-consumer platform Interactive Investor is extending its offer to waive its monthly self-invested personal pension fee for a year so more savers can take advantage of it at this time.
The investment platform will waive its £10 monthly Sipp fee until April 2021, which amounts to a further £110 saving.
When announced last month (March), the offer originally applied to all new accounts opened between March 3 and April 3 this year but the closing date has also been extended to April 30 so more savers can take advantage of the low costs at a time when markets are suffering.
Existing clients who have an Isa or a trading account but no Sipp are also able to take advantage of the offer.
Moira O’Neill, head of personal finance at Interactive Investor, said: “Our free Sipp offer for one year doesn’t just apply to transfers in from rival providers, but could equally encourage someone to set up a Sipp for the first time, including existing customers who don’t have a Sipp – with us or anyone else.
“This Sipp offer means that investors would be able to have everything under one roof – their Sipp, Isa, trading account, and as many free junior Isas as they have children – for just £9.99 per month.”
She added: “Don’t underestimate the power of cutting your fees on pensions by a few hundred pounds a year. Even small savings can compound up into life-changing sums over a period of many years.
“You can’t control the markets (with markets down) but you can control your costs – and this offer will be a big help.”
The investment platform does not charge a fee to set up or close the Sipp and clients also do not face a charge when transferring in funds.
There is also no charge on transferring to another provider but the firm charges £500 plus VAT on transfers to an overseas scheme.
There is also a £10 per month charge for drawdown.
At the beginning of this year (January 7), Interactive Investor scrapped its regular investing fee in a move which meant investors no longer had to pay a 99p charge per investment, providing they invested at least £25 per month.
The platform said it hoped the move would leave customers with "just one easy-to-understand, pounds-and-pence monthly flat fee."
In February, the company announced it was set to buy rival platform The Share Centre for £61.9m, with the consumer platform market beginning to mirror the wave of consolidation currently gripping the adviser platform landscape.
amy.austin@ft.com
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