The BrilliantWithMoney Sipp, to be officially launched on Monday, was designed in collaboration with the newly launched Sipp administration firm Gaudi, headed by former Winterthur Life chief executive Clifton Melvin.
Informed Choice chief executive Nick Bamford said: “We have recognised that the face of retail financial services is rapidly evolving. In the future, customers will more and more purchase the financial products they need online. This new service compliments our traditional advisory services and will offer greater choice in an ever-growing market.”
The BrilliantWithMoney Sipp is part of Informed Choice’s personal finance website BrilliantWithMoney.co.uk, launched in July, which uses web 2.0 technology to integrate with social networking websites.
Nick Bamford added: “Increasingly, people like to be able to share knowledge before making a decision, utilising new technology such as Twitter and Facebook. BrilliantWithMoney was designed with this in mind, and is fully integrated with all 153 social networking websites.”
The new Sipp offers access to a full range of collective investment funds and competitive interest rates on cash funds. Setup, transferral of existing funds and arrangement of benefits are all fully online.
Martin Bamford, managing director at Informed Choice, said a second Sipp, offering an unlimited range of investments, was planned, details of which are expected in the next few months.
Gaudi, a new third party Sipp administrator, launched itself into the UK market this week, aiming to create “a new dawn for Sipps”.
The new web-based, low-cost Sipp provider will use the same technology used by websites such as Facebook, and claims to be the first web-based Sipp platform that does not require manual data re-entry. Financial planning firm Informed Choice has already agreed a deal to launch two Sipps with Gaudi as administrator.
Gaudi chief executive Clifton Melvin said: “Sipps, even those purporting to offer online capability, have been hampered by expensive, inefficient legacy IT systems, restrictive investment options and clunky paper-based administration. We are creating a new dawn for Sipps with streamlined online administration, complete investment flexibility and a low cost online capability for intermediaries and providers.”
Martin Bamford, Informed Choice managing director, said: “Working with Gaudi as closely as we have has enabled us to put together a Sipp that meets our specifications and expectations, but, more importantly, the expectations of our clients. Rather than taking an existing Sipp product and tailor it, we’ve been able to create something bespoke from the start which has been great.”
Joe Clark, director of independent financial adviser firm No Monkey Business, welcomed Gaudi’s approach, and said that the removal of paperwork “will appeal to small and large IFA firms alike”.
Social networking websites have seen a boom in popularity among financial planners and advisers over the last year. Dozens of IFAs use Twitter to share ideas and discuss legislative changes such as the retail distribution review, while others have helped put together a Facebook page to promote financial planning and awareness to younger generations.
