Scottish Widows aims to add a million new pensions customers to its book as part of a £50bn drive into financial planning and retirement, a strategy update from Lloyds Banking Group (LPG) confirmed this morning.
The provider says it will also develop its digital proposition and will implement ‘an integrated financial planning and retirement proposition with a single customer view’, in a three-year strategy.
LBG’s announcement of a big drive into the pensions sector follows the announcement earlier this week that it is withdrawing £109bn of assets from Standard Life Aberdeen and the rumoured collapse of a deal to merge Widows and Standard’s pensions book into a mega pensions provider.
Today’s statement says LBG plans to deepen customer relationships, grow in targeted segments and better address customers’ banking and insurance needs as an integrated financial services provider.
Lloyds also posted an 8 per cent rise in underlying profit to £8.5bn in its results out today, with revenues rising 6 per cent to £18.5bn in 2017.
LBG shares rose 1.5 per cent in early morning trading.
LBG group chief executive António Horta-Osório says: “I am delighted to announce today our strategy for the next three years which will transform the Group for success in a digital world.
“Over the last six years the Group has made huge progress and has built many strong capabilities including the largest and top rated digital bank in the UK. As we enter the next phase of our journey our team is determined to further improve the business, enhance customer experience and deliver superior shareholder returns.
“The external environment is evolving rapidly and I am confident that this exciting and ambitious plan, with the significant additional investment, will mean we remain at the forefront of UK financial services, and continue to deliver our mission of Helping Britain Prosper.”
Hargreaves Lansdown senior analyst Laith Khalaf says: “There’s a lot to like in Lloyds’ numbers, with profits rising, costs under control, and prodigious amounts of cash being thrown off to shareholders.
“Lloyds is also looking at expanding into the financial planning and retirement market, and is targeting 1 million new pension customers by 2020. The government’s auto-enrolment programme is now largely in the rear view mirror, which means Lloyds will have to pinch these new customers off someone else, so it will have to sharpen up its toolkit. One would expect Scottish Widows to play a pivotal role in this pensions land grab, which lends some context to the recently announced prospective withdrawal of £109 billion of assets from Standard Life Aberdeen.”