Traditionally, the purpose of a bank account within a pension scheme has been rather one dimensional.
Historically, it has been used to provide flexibility to advisers and trustees while they made a decision on the investment of funds into other asset classes. This is an understandable convention in a time when other asset classes are providing returns that make any return on cash negligible.
However, the events of the last two years have caused somewhat of a paradigm shift as trustees and advisers alike have to a large extent, found themselves in a very unique set of circumstances. Diminishing returns on property, equities and other asset classes have led to an increase in cash weighting and perhaps more importantly, this has occurred in a falling and now bottomed out interest rate environment with consumer confidence at an all time low. Cash, the long overlooked asset class, is now well poised to add real value to the portfolio.
The circumstances above offer an insight into the difficulty that advisers and trustees have in finding a SIPP/SSAS bank account that can offer, flexibility, transparency, consistently competitive returns, and a streamlined account opening process. When you combine all these elements with a dedicated service team you could argue that an offering like this should be part of any pension portfolio.
At Investec we take a specialist approach and we have designed an offering that provides a savings account with an attractive rate which, since it's inception, has paid a margin above the Bank of England base rate and is currently paying up to 2.5% above the Bank of England base rate depending on the level of investment.
Admittedly an interest rate alone is not enough, flexibility is imperative. Our Pension & Trust Reserve Account mentioned above operates on one month notice basis and can be opened in conjunction with a cheque account for transactional purposes.
Finally, no adviser, trustee or member wants to trawl through pages and pages just to open an account. We have created a streamlined application form and our dedicated service team are only a phone call away.
For more information visit www.investecprivatebank.co.uk/pensionandtrust or call us on 0845 366 6333
