The proposition, which is due to launch by the end of the year, will be targeted at employees and orphan customers who cannot afford or do not want to pay for full financial advice from an adviser.
In a video interview with Corporate Adviser TV, Aegon managing director, workplace solutions Angela Seymour Jackson said: “We have been asking ourselves what can we give the people, in the workplace and some of our orphan customer base? There is no reason why they shouldn’t have the same choices – cash, annuity, drawdown, drawdown with a guarantee, and those choices should be given in a non-advised space and delivered digitally with a telephone back-up, on an advice without a personal recommendation basis.
“Our aim is to deliver that by the year end on a non-advised basis, and we are working through at the moment what does drawdown look like, what kind of tools and guidance do you put in place, to make sure people really understand those choices. And from an investment perspective, what can you put down behind the drawdown and the drawdown with a guarantee that is appropriate in the non-advised space. We haven’t reached a conclusion on that but probably we are talking about one, maybe two funds that we think are appropriate for that mass market.
“In terms of the new regulations, we realised that to provide the explanations that are already needed, you are already in that domain of advice without a personal recommendation. Which is slightly curious because 10 years ago I would have said that is not advice.
“We will inevitably look at some form of simplified advice, for our orphan base and potentially in the workplace, albeit aimed at the mass market level. We don’t see ourselves as Aegon being in the market offering advice for the mass affluent or high net worth. It will be more a case of trying to offer a broad proposition for mass customers.”
