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'5 for Life' retirement solution wins The Innovators

The winners of The Innovators, the awards initiative from Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE) in association with Ernst & Young, were announced at a high profile awards ceremony in Edinburgh yesterday evening (Tuesday 29 November). Now in its third year, The Innovators once again had an impressive showcase of finalists, demonstrating the ongoing innovative developments taking place across all areas of Scotland’s financial services industry.

The overall winner of The Innovators this year was AEGON for its new ‘5 for Life’ pension product, which is the first on the UK market to offer a guaranteed income of at least 5 per cent of the amount invested for life, while allowing the investor to retain ownership control of the investment funds. The judges felt that ‘5 for Life’ offers an exciting new addition to the retirement options available in the UK, as it manages to couple the security offered by an annuity policy, in that it won’t run out of funds during the investors lifetime, with the advantages of an investment plan as it enables the investor to benefit from improvements in stock-market performance.

AEGON has developed this guaranteed income retirement product by adapting a concept that is proving a popular approach in the US and tailoring it to meet the specific needs of UK customers. The innovation has the potential to have a significant impact on the UK retirement market and AEGON was first to market with this type of product, which offers an alternative pensions solution for customers.

Since launching ‘5 for Life’ in September last year, AEGON have seen steady sales growth each quarter. The guaranteed income retirement market in the UK could be set for further growth, with several of AEGON’s major competitors now developing their own equivalents to ‘5 for Life’.
Gordon Arthur, Interim Chief Executive of SFE, said: “Once again The Innovators has produced an excellent range of entries, from a wide array of companies and from many different areas of the financial services industry. The Innovators has a worthy overall winner in AEGON’s ‘5 for Life’ and this innovative new product shows that companies in Scotland are continuing to develop great new concepts that offer customers real value and choice.”

Gregor Stewart, Head of Advisory Services, Scotland at Ernst & Young, said: “We are delighted to be associated with The Innovators again this year, an initiative that is placing the focus on the key developments and innovative solutions that can be found in Scotland’s financial services industry. The success of the industry in an increasingly mobile market place is dependent on an ongoing drive for innovation and creativity, from all parts of the business, and The Innovators shows that companies in Scotland are striving to grow and develop.”

In addition to being selected as the overall winner of The Innovators 2007, AEGON’s ‘5 for Life’ was also the winner of the Innovation in Life and Pensions category. The other category winners were as follows:

Innovation in Banking: The Royal Bank of Scotland, for the launch of the NatWest Welcome Account, a new bank account tailored to the specific needs of Polish nationals living in the UK.

Innovation in Investments: Scottish Investment Operations, who have developed new Advanced Certificates in Investment Operations, giving a new qualifications route that was not previously available to this sector

Innovation in Business Approach: Nucleus Financial, who are a new retail financial services  business that provide an online investment ‘wrap’ platform, within which the Independent Financial Advisers who use the service take an equity stake in the company.

Innovation in Corporate Citizenship: two organisations were recognised within this category. Martin Currie, for the launch of the Martin Currie Charitable Foundation, and Standard Life, who partnered with other organisations to produce the ‘On the Money’ financial education stories for primary school children.

Find out more about the winners and finanlists of The Innovators 2007.

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