iWeb Change to Scottish Widows

wmb194

EthicsGradient said:

GeoffTF said:

EthicsGradient said:

You would presume that if the existing "Scottish Widows Platform" with the charges listed above is going to continue, with the charges, then they'll have to rebrand it to something else. Having a fee-free "Scottish Widows" and a "Scottish Widows Platform" with charges would be a marketing nightmare, leading to some hacked-off customers.

I expect that iWeb will be called Scottish Widows Share Dealing, which will bring it into line with Lloyds Share Dealing and Halifax Share Dealing. We omit "Share Dealing" in our discussions, because it is too long winded. I do not expect it will add much confusion. HSBC has long has two investment platforms. I expect that the Scottish Widows app will show all you Lloyds Banking Group accounts, in much the same way that the Lloyds app shows your Halifax accounts and vice versa (or so I understand).

I think you're referring to HSBC's  "Global Investment Centre" and "InvestDirect" - which have quite different names. "Scottish Widows Share Dealing" and "Scottish Widows Platform" are a lot closer, especially since the first can be called a platform, and "Scottish Widows Platform" allows share dealing, so there's still opportunity for confusion.

The, "Scottish Widows Platform" will be Enact whilst, "Scottish Widows Share Dealing" will be HSDL. So the platform will be for advisors and SWSD will be for retail. Easy.

ivormonee

My original post was just to highlight that with the Iweb change there will be several SW websites, all with different charging structures. 

From what I've been able to gather, there will be:

SW Share Dealing (the new Iweb) - zero account fee/ £5 dealing

SW Platform - 0.35% account charge/ £7.50 dealing min.

SW OEIC/ISA website - account charges £3 per month (unconfirmed)

SW pension website - charges unknown

SW ready-made investments - free, but £3 per month from Jan 2026.

SW OEIC/ISA and SW pension seem to come under the SW umbrella of "client services", and SW Platform is advised-only.

It just seems to me to be quite a few variations of SW, all different in some way, and by adding a new Iweb website into the mix by renaming to SW Share Dealing just adds to the list. 

Albermarle

EthicsGradient said:

You would presume that if the existing "Scottish Widows Platform" with the charges listed above is going to continue, with the charges, then they'll have to rebrand it to something else. Having a fee-free "Scottish Widows" and a "Scottish Widows Platform" with charges would be a marketing nightmare, leading to some hacked-off customers.

To maybe add to confusion, I would imagine most SW customers are actually in workplace pensions, which themselves will have varying charge rates depending on what is negotiated with the employer.
Even for workplace pensions there are at least two entities, as SW took over Zurich workplace pension and rebranded them. However the website and customer service are not the same. 

GeoffTF

ivormonee said:

SW ready-made investments - free, but £3 per month from Jan 2026.

The Lloyds and Halifax brands already have SW Ready-Made-Investments (this is a tangled web). I had wondered whether £3 per month was the totality of the platform fees. If it is, with 0.1% OCF for a LifeStrategy look alike, it handsomely undercuts the competition.

Albermarle

GeoffTF said:

ivormonee said:

SW ready-made investments - free, but £3 per month from Jan 2026.

The Lloyds and Halifax brands already have SW Ready-Made-Investments (this is a tangled web). I had wondered whether £3 per month was the totality of the platform fees. If it is, with 0.1% OCF for a LifeStrategy look alike, it handsomely undercuts the competition.

SW ready made pension charges 0.3% with a minimum charge of £5 per month.
Investment fund cost is another 0.1% + 0.12% transaction costs ( always debatable whether to take these into account or not)
Halifax offer an identical product.

GeoffTF

Albermarle said:

GeoffTF said:

ivormonee said:

SW ready-made investments - free, but £3 per month from Jan 2026.

The Lloyds and Halifax brands already have SW Ready-Made-Investments (this is a tangled web). I had wondered whether £3 per month was the totality of the platform fees. If it is, with 0.1% OCF for a LifeStrategy look alike, it handsomely undercuts the competition.

SW ready made pension charges 0.3% with a minimum charge of £5 per month.
Investment fund cost is another 0.1% + 0.12% transaction costs ( always debatable whether to take these into account or not)
Halifax offer an identical product.

This is what it says on the Lloyds and Halifax websites:

https://www.lloydsbank.com/investing/ways-to-invest/ready-made-investments.html

https://www.halifax.co.uk/investing/start-investing/ready-made-investments.html

Both websites state that the OCF is 0.1% and that there is an account fee of £3 per month. Neither fund is offered in a SIPP. Scottish Widows Ready Made Pensions are clearly something else. Here is the KIID for the Balanced fund:

https://www.lloydsbank.com/assets/media/pdfs/investments/managed_growth_fund_4_kiid.pdf

It is branded Scottish Widows. Perhaps there is scope for confusion here! I had wondered whether there were any other charges, but the post that I quoted seems to be saying no.

Albermarle

Halifax offer a ready made pension, identical to the SW one.
Their monthly charge is 0.3% or £5 minimum. The fund charge is 0.1%.

RMP fees and charges | Pensions | Halifax

LLoyds also offer exactly the same.

Open a Ready-Made Pension | Lloyds Bank

GeoffTF

Albermarle said:

Halifax offer a ready made pension, identical to the SW one.
Their monthly charge is 0.3% or £5 minimum. The fund charge is 0.1%.

RMP fees and charges | Pensions | Halifax

LLoyds also offer exactly the same.

Open a Ready-Made Pension | Lloyds Bank

That is curious. The fees are enormously larger than those of the SIPP, for large sums.

Albermarle

GeoffTF said:

Albermarle said:

Halifax offer a ready made pension, identical to the SW one.
Their monthly charge is 0.3% or £5 minimum. The fund charge is 0.1%.

RMP fees and charges | Pensions | Halifax

LLoyds also offer exactly the same.

Open a Ready-Made Pension | Lloyds Bank

That is curious. The fees are enormously larger than those of the SIPP, for large sums.

Maybe some perspective needed.
They are still quite low cost in the great scheme of things.

GeoffTF

Albermarle said:

GeoffTF said:

Albermarle said:

Halifax offer a ready made pension, identical to the SW one.
Their monthly charge is 0.3% or £5 minimum. The fund charge is 0.1%.

RMP fees and charges | Pensions | Halifax

LLoyds also offer exactly the same.

Open a Ready-Made Pension | Lloyds Bank

That is curious. The fees are enormously larger than those of the SIPP, for large sums.

Maybe some perspective needed.
They are still quite low cost in the great scheme of things.

For this SW pension, the platform fee + OCF = 0.3% + 0.1% = 0.4%. HSBC Global Strategy Balanced C has an OCF of 0.19%. Break even is with platform charges of 0.21%. Halifax charges £198 p.a. for a large SIPP. Break even is at £198 / 0.0021 = £94,286. This article gives figures for the average pension pot by age:

https://moneyweek.com/personal-finance/pensions/average-pension-pot-by-age

You could get a lower break even by using a global equity tracker and directly held gilts. The SW pension may be cheaper than the Halifax SIPP for a majority of the population, but not at retirement.