Friends Life has defended its direct to consumer proposition, PlanWise, against an claims it is using the service to cut advisers out of the sales process.
PlanWise is an online and telephone based tied advice service for Friends Life customers who no longer have or have never had an IFA. Launched in September, the proposition is aimed firmly at orphaned clients, Friends Life said. However, Brian Ollerton, IFA at Woodcocks, said Friends Life has gone to extra lengths to contact his existing client base with the intention of switching them to PlanWise. "Friends Life has telephoned two of my clients about PlanWise, even though those clients never gave Friends their numbers, so they have gone out of their way to find those details," said...
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