iWeb Change to Scottish Widows

dunstonh

Do SW offer a modern SIPP anyway?

Yes, but it's on the intermediary side.     Lloyds also bought embark.   Just before Lloyds bought them, they bought the Zurich platform.    In 2023, Lloyds rebranded that platform to the "Scottish Widows Platform".  

SW themselves still sell the older Retirement Account (which is not a SIPP) when dealing directly with them, which has long-in-the-tooth software and is a personal pension with a bit of fund supermarket functionality bolted on.   It's a yesteryear product in terms of functionality, and the SW platform is much better.   I get fairly regular emails indicating that they have been improving functionality on the platform.    However, I am wary of using SW because of Lloyd's history of boom spending on its current pet projects and then letting them hang out to dry (or die) when they get bored and move on to the next pet project.

GeoffTF

dunstonh said:

Do SW offer a modern SIPP anyway?

Yes, but it's on the intermediary side.     Lloyds also bought embark.   Just before Lloyds bought them, they bought the Zurich platform.    In 2023, Lloyds rebranded that platform to the "Scottish Widows Platform".  

SW themselves still sell the older Retirement Account (which is not a SIPP) when dealing directly with them, which has long-in-the-tooth software and is a personal pension with a bit of fund supermarket functionality bolted on.   It's a yesteryear product in terms of functionality, and the SW platform is much better.   I get fairly regular emails indicating that they have been improving functionality on the platform.    However, I am wary of using SW because of Lloyd's history of boom spending on its current pet projects and then letting them hang out to dry (or die) when they get bored and move on to the next pet project.

Until recently SIPPs were offered by the iWeb branded accounts, but not by the Lloyds or Halifax branded accounts. SIPPs are now offered by both the Lloyds and Halifax brands:

https://www.lloydsbank.com/investing/ways-to-invest/share-dealing-services/self-invested-personal-pension.html

https://www.halifax.co.uk/investing/start-investing/share-dealing-services/sipp.html

These SIPPs are managed by Embark, which is part of Scottish Widows. iWeb has offered SIPPs for a long time. They use the Halifax Share Dealing Limited (not to be confused with Halifax Share Dealing) platform, and were managed by AJ Bell. Existing iWeb customers have been offered the options of staying with AJ Bell, moving to Embark or transferring to another provider. iWeb is not currently opening new SIPPs. I expect that they will do so in the future, and that they will be branded Scottish Widows. I do not have a Lloyds or Halifax account, but I expect that their SIPPs are branded as Lloyds and Halifax, but managed by Embark, which is part of Scottish Widows. Ultimately, these are all part of Lloyds Banking Group (not to confused with Lloyds Bank).

kempiejon

Opened a new Halifax SIPP this tax year. I like their Sharebuilder for ISA and general account and wanted to see my SIPP there.

I have struggled with the customer experience of my new Halifax SIPP. I use a windows PC, I interact with the Halifax Share Dealing website (my ISA and GIA are there too) to buy and sell equities in my SIPP. I check transactions and balances and send messages with the Halifax Online Banking website where I have my credit card accounts. I to initiate a withdrawal I follow an outlink from Halifax Online Banking to Scottish Widows where the forms all refer to my Ready Made pension.

That's a bit too much muddle and I'll be glad to see the back of this when I transfer away. My previous interactions with Embank prompted me to transfer away from them to AJ Bell. I think I'll go there next time.

Albermarle

david72 said:

While IWeb may not be so well known, I’m rather surprised that Scottish Widows is apparently seen by some as a “trusted” brand. It has always had the feel to me of an ancient (literally so) business somehow still shuffling along, which probably hasn’t kept up with the times (societally or technically) and is probably only too happy to charge as high fees as it can get away with, too. I mean, the very name is a constant reminder (and antiquatedly sexistly so) that it’s not really intended to benefit you, only your partner after you die, not exactly cheery!

It's also not entirely clear from the announcement blurb whether IWeb customers will be moved to and restricted to(?) an app-only system, being rather silent about whether a standard web interface will still be available (which many people find much easier to use and refer to when dealing with stocks and shares investments - trying to look up detailed share/fund information on a small mobile phone screen is really very far from optimal)?

(It also rather looks as though Scottish Widows have been accumulating systems and technical debt almost as badly as Clydesdale/Northern Rock (Virgin), just look at all the login links, what a mess (who even knew that all the gathered dust in the back offices had even evolved into its own embedded "bank" at some point?)! And there's a definite underlying vibe of many of these systems more being intended for parasitic fee-charging middlemen to login in to "on behalf of" their parasitised hosts, sorry, clients (Scottish Widows has never really struck me as an actual directly "customer-facing" brand, more one of those shadowy grey intermediaries only ever "recommended" by middlemen/salespimps with vested interests in ensnaring people who do not DYOR) - I guess all these layers are maybe what happens when you're a femme fatale widow who causes the death of a succession of husbands in order to live off the various insurance policies…?)

Scottish Widows operate a lot of workplace pensions. Some historical ones, and also some they acquired when they bought the workplace pensions business from Zurich . The latter operates under the SW brand but is still based out of the old Zurich offices and using their IT ( from what I can tell) .
I have one of these and I can contact them directly- no advisors or middlemen involved.
The website is a bit clunky but the charges are very low.
Overall SW has 6 Million customers and has £170 Billion Assets under management.

Kaizen917

I have lately been contemplating to consolidate all my ISAs + my SIPP into iWeb. They are all invested in global ETFs but split across Vanguard, InvestEngine and T212 which makes my overall platform fee cost low but as my total ISA holdings went over 100k last year, I cant shake that feeling that these providers are relatively new (Vanguard isnt but the UK entity feels nothing like the one in the US).

Is this ownership change making such a move make more sense? Especially with the free regular transfers being on the table.

wmb194

Kaizen917 said:

I have lately been contemplating to consolidate all my ISAs + my SIPP into iWeb. They are all invested in global ETFs but split across Vanguard, InvestEngine and T212 which makes my overall platform fee cost low but as my total ISA holdings went over 100k last year, I cant shake that feeling that these providers are relatively new (Vanguard isnt but the UK entity feels nothing like the one in the US).

Is this ownership change making such a move make more sense? Especially with the free regular transfers being on the table.

What ownership change? The ownership of iWeb isn't changing, it's just being rebranded, will offer free monthly regular investments* and given an app.

T212's been around for quite a long while now and is solidly profitable. The only one I'd worry about is InvestEngine.

*Which I think HSDL's other brand(s) already offer, or at a reduced commission rate.

DRS1

Just remember to update any saved links after the change.

For the technically challenged what is a saved link and how do I update it?

GeoffTF

Kaizen917 said:

I have lately been contemplating to consolidate all my ISAs + my SIPP into iWeb.

iWeb now has pricing for its SIPPs:

https://www.iweb-sharedealing.co.uk/our-accounts/self-invested-personal-pension/sipp-charges.html

iWeb still does not appear to be offering them to new customers, but I expect that it will do so. I suggest that you ask them about it.

Albermarle

Kaizen917 said:

I have lately been contemplating to consolidate all my ISAs + my SIPP into iWeb. They are all invested in global ETFs but split across Vanguard, InvestEngine and T212 which makes my overall platform fee cost low but as my total ISA holdings went over 100k last year, I cant shake that feeling that these providers are relatively new (Vanguard isnt but the UK entity feels nothing like the one in the US).

Is this ownership change making such a move make more sense? Especially with the free regular transfers being on the table.

Although I web is very cheap for ISAs , it is debatable whether its SIPP offering was that great.
If you stick with ETF's, The Fidelity at £90 pa and HL at £200 pa could be a better bet as they both have better websites, customer service etc 

Vortigern

DRS1 said:

Just remember to update any saved links after the change.

For the technically challenged what is a saved link and how do I update it?

A bookmark, a "favorite" or anywhere you might have stored iWeb's URL.
There's usually a way to edit bookmarks etc.