Aegon enters wrap race with retirement offering

Aegon UK has made its first foray into the platform market with a phased launch of its “at retirement” wrap proposition.

The unbundled platform, Aegon Retirement Choices (ARC), is aimed at helping investors get the most out of their retirement investments and is being initially rolled out to around 50 IFA firms.

Developed in partnership with Novia and GBST, the platform is designed to help people prepare for retirement, take an income from their savings and deal with changing circumstances.

It offers a range of tax wrappers including a SIPP, ISA (cash and stocks and shares) and general investment account. Investors can access Aegon insured funds, offshore bonds, collectives and other investment types.

The platform has initially launched with 14 discretionary fund managers (DFMs) and will offer additional DFM capability on adviser demand.

Its unbundled charging model consists of platform, fund manager and adviser charge.

Customers pay a tiered platform administrative charge to Aegon ranging from 0.6% for assets below £30,000 to 0.2% for assets above £1m.

Investors also pay an investment charge to fund managers, with all rebates going directly into the client cash account, and an adviser charge agreed between the customer and IFA.

ARC also charges £15 for each directly-held equity transaction and £10 for an ETF trade.

Focused on investors planning for their retirement, the wrap also extends to those who have already retired and are looking to get more from their savings.

"Bringing our new platform proposition to market is the start of a new chapter for Aegon UK," said platform director Gordon Greig. "We are adopting a phased roll out approach, so will initially work with a limited cross-section of advisers who have been selected on the basis of being at differing stages of developing their own businesses."

Following the initial launch, Aegon is looking to roll out the platform to the wider market in 2012.

Meanwhile, the insurer plans to deliver a workplace savings platform in the first half of 2012.