Living Time’s chief executive officer Kim Lerche-Thomsen, confirmed that a new product, which could potentially offer Hartford’s former UK clients an alternative retirement vehicle, would be available at the end of the year.
“It’s always sad when a company like Hartford, which has provided innovation and spent a lot of effort in this space, pulls out of the market, and we’re sorry to see it go,” Lerche-Thomsen said.
“Having said that, it may well influence our product design – those people will still require good advice and a retirement product that suits their needs.”
Lerche-Thomsen stressed that in the past, clients may have steered away from variable annuities since they could not see the benefit, or they thought the costs were too high. He also criticised the complicated nature of some products.
He added: “We plan to bring a new product to market by the end of the year, which would perhaps be able to provide products under annuity rules, unsecured pension scheme rules and alternative secured pension scheme rules. We know HM Revenue & Customs is willing to look at the edges of its current rules and will allow some innovation.”
