Greenwich Associates today named Standard Life, Fidelity and Zurich as the 2014 Greenwich Quality Leaders in U.K. Bundled Defined Contribution Corporate Pension Services. Of the 12 DC pension providers evaluated, these firms received the highest ratings for overall quality from the leading corporate benefit consultants interviewed by Greenwich Associates as part of its most recent research on the U.K. DC pension industry.
This marks the fifth consecutive year that Zurich has been recognized as a Greenwich Quality Leader and the second consecutive year that both Standard Life and Fidelity have been recognized.
Investment Proposition
“In addition to standard demands for high-quality fund offerings, consultants increasingly favor providers that demonstrate a commitment to rigorous investment governance and the ability to create client-specific fund solutions,” says Greenwich Associates consultant Marc Haynes.
Zurich achieves a clear leadership position for the overall quality of its investment proposition and receives particular credit from the consultant community for launching an innovative auto-enrolment default fund solution in conjunction with Schroders and Threadneedle. According to one consultant interviewed, “Zurich has really thought about the end user in terms of the experience provided.”
Scheme Administration
For the second consecutive year, Fidelity ranks top for scheme administration. Greenwich Associates notes that market standards for many of the key administration factors measured have deteriorated, likely because of the administrative burden imposed by auto-enrolment.
Client Service
Fidelity, Friends Life , Standard Life, and Zurich all lead the market for client service quality, a category focusing on the value-add elements of client service, including the clarity and relevance of written communications to members, online resources offered and member engagement strategies.
Auto Enrolment
Standard Life stands out as the clear market leader in auto-enrolment, a newly established category that encompasses the overall auto-enrolment service experience, overall knowledge of auto-enrolment provider staff, reputation on auto-enrolment expertise and delivery, as well as developing innovations and solutions within auto-enrolment.
Shift to Online Member Engagement
Greenwich Associates expects a continued increase in online communications to provide members the ability to access real-time account information on a self-serve basis. With the influx of new employees joining DC schemes as a result of auto-enrolment, the use of social-media is becoming a cost-effective method to increase member engagement. According to one consultant interviewed, Friends Life is “leading the charge here and I think they are using [social media] more deeply as a way of segmenting the workforce and delivering segmented messages.”
Greenwich Quality Leaders: U.K. Bundled DC Corporate Pensions
Since 2007 Greenwich Associates has interviewed leading corporate benefit consultants to evaluate the DC pension providers they follow closely. This year, consultants were asked to evaluate these firms on a total of 27 key investment, administration, auto-enrolment and client servicing proposition criteria.
Greenwich Quality Leaders are firms that have distinguished themselves in the market by receiving overall quality ratings that top those given to competitors by a meaningful margin, with all quality leaders scoring in the top quartile of the Greenwich Quality Index Overall. This year, Standard Life, Fidelity and Zurich are the firms earning the distinction of delivering the highest quality across all aspects of their corporate pension proposition.