Fidelity Worldwide Investment and Annuity Direct are set to join forces with the aim of delivering excellent retirement outcomes to Fidelity's customers and providing Annuity Direct with the support it needs to continue to grow its business.
Fidelity can today confirm that, subject to FCA approval, it has reached an agreement to acquire the entire share capital of Annuity Direct and its holding company Retirement Angels. The news follows an announcement last week setting out Fidelity's ambitions for the growing retirement market spearheaded by the appointment of Richard Parkin as Head of Retirement.
As the prevalence of defined benefit pensions wanes, more and more people are coming up to retirement with assets that they need to use to generate income. Too often individuals opt for the easy and apparently simple option of buying an annuity without considering alternatives or even what their retirement needs are. In this context, there is an overwhelming need to ensure individuals have access to help and support to ensure they make decisions at retirement that are right for them.
Annuity Direct, which will retain its status as an independent financial adviser, already provides its services both directly to individuals, but also to a wide range of intermediaries, offering a comprehensive retirement service. The acquisition of Annuity Direct by Fidelity will provide customers of Fidelity with greater choice and support at retirement, but also aims to broaden Annuity Direct's services to a range of intermediaries and trustee clients.
Richard Parkin, Head of Retirement, Fidelity Worldwide Investment, said: "Our ambition as a business is to deliver a retirement service which provides the greatest choice, best guidance, and highest quality service, and ultimately delivers the best outcomes for our customers. Within the current market there are few services that deliver the quality that customers demand, but also on a scale which supports the growing number of retirees in the UK. Annuity Direct is one of the exceptions.
"Fidelity and Annuity Direct have a common goal to provide customers with the very best retirement outcome by focusing on what is right for them not just what is good for our businesses. Having worked closely together over the past couple of years we have decided that by joining forces more formally we can really get to the heart of what our customers need to fulfil their retirement aspirations."
Alan Higham, Chairman of Annuity Direct said: "When we originally bought Annuity Direct our ambition was to be known as the company that provided the best possible outcome for people who were converting their pension savings into a retirement income. Having fought hard to gain that reputation it was important for us to work with a company that held those same values. I am delighted to say that Fidelity shares the same focus on best outcomes as we do and I am confident that together we can achieve outstanding tangible benefits for our customers."
Hugh Mullan, UK Managing Director, Fidelity, said: "As part of our increased investment into our UK business, the build out of a new retirement service is a key priority. We are delighted to have agreed to the acquisition of Annuity Direct, a high quality retirement business. Our customers will benefit from a much richer retirement offering, and Annuity Direct will be given investment to further grow its business and continue to support the best retirement choices in a market that is growing rapidly with ever increasing customer needs. We have great ambitions for the UK and this is just the beginning. Fidelity and Annuity Direct will make further announcements about its plans in the coming months."
Fidelity and Annuity Direct already work together on Fidelity's highly successful ‘RetireWise‘ service. Launched 18 months ago, RetireWise is used by Fidelity's defined contribution pension clients to help their employees obtain a retirement product that meets their needs. The intent is that together, Fidelity and Annuity Direct will be able to do more like this for customers in order to provide exactly the right shape and type of retirement income right now.
As well as providing support for Fidelity's business channels, Annuity Direct will continue to serve individuals, pension schemes and other institutions under the Annuity Direct brand as an independent financial adviser. Alan Higham will remain as Chairman of the company and will join Fidelity to help develop and deliver on its ambition to become a leading player in the retirement market. Don Grant will become Head of Annuity Direct.
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