In response to continued growth, Sovereign has formed a new leadership team to oversee the Group Pensions, Wealth and Insurance business lines.
The leadership team will comprise Group chief executive Gerry Kelly, Group chief operating officer Brian McPhail, together with Darren Whitley, Cristina Cassar Difesa and Sean Gillease, the managing directors of Sovereign Pension Services in Gibraltar, Malta and Guernsey respectively, and Eamon Birmingham, managing director of Sovereign Wealth.
The new leadership team will ensure that a more collaborative approach can be adopted across the business lines to meet ongoing demands and challenges of the respective businesses in their various jurisdictions of operation.
Commenting on the establishment of the new Group Pensions, Wealth & Insurance Board, Group CEO Gerry Kelly said:
“Despite operating across different jurisdictions, the majority of the issues and opportunities presented to the pension business are the same. By adopting a more consistent and collaborative approach through the creation of this new leadership team, we will be better placed to meet these challenges and to continue delivering high levels of service to our clients.”
An immediate area of focus for the new leadership team has been to introduce new ‘bundled’ personal pension schemes in each jurisdiction. Under this arrangement, the investment responsibility will sit with the trustee rather than the pension scheme members, and a single percentage-based fee will be charged covering the trustee fee and all the investment administration and management costs.
Investment manager Morningstar Wealth International has been selected to provide the investment platform, and a limited range of low cost, risk rated model portfolios will be made available to members according to their risk profile. These model portfolios will be reviewed to ensure that performance remains in line with industry benchmarks, which will provide members with additional assurance.
The introduction of these new trustee-directed schemes in Gibraltar, Malta and Guernsey is intended to provide a solution for various issues such as legacy non-advised (orphan) clients, clients with more modest pensions and enhanced investment oversight.
They will also ensure that the trustees meet their growing regulatory responsibilities, such as the Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) initiative, the Consumer Duty framework, and the protection of vulnerable customers. The objective is to ensure that all clients (new and existing) are being offered security, value and choice.
These schemes will be open for new business, but it is expected that initial uptake will be from specific sections of our existing client base, such as the legacy non-advised clients and members with more modest pensions.
Besides the introduction of these new schemes, other areas of focus and priority for the new leadership team include the development of online portals for secure web-based member access, web-based application forms and further development of our employer-sponsored (occupational) pensions’ offering, building on the successful launch of our auto enrolment solutions in Gibraltar and Guernsey.
