From previous member research undertaken, you have told us that one of the most important factors to you when considering your pension savings is the financial strength and stability of your pension provider.
Aviva has been around a long time – over 300 years. They are the largest provider of workplace pensions in the UK. They look after around £70bn of your money, and provide financial products (pensions, insurance, investments and health products) to 33 million people worldwide.
The FCA regulate Aviva alongside the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) who also authorise Aviva to conduct business in the UK. The PRA requires Aviva to hold a certain level of reserves to ensure that, in the event of an emergency, they are able to cover their liabilities and continue to pay customers in the event of a claim, including the money you have invested for retirement. This is called a Solvency Cover Ratio (SCR) which reflects the amount of the reserves Aviva needs to hold.
Aviva announced on 17th March (after allowing for market turbulence up to that date) that their SCR was approximately 175% which puts them in a very healthy position. This number does not allow for any increase in insurance claims or changes which may arise as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, and so we will be asking Aviva to keep us informed of any significant changes to this number.
Following the introduction of new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), penalties for companies who “lose” or misuse your data are significant. It should come as no surprise to you that Aviva has extensive measures in place to ensure your data is kept secure. This is not just your personal data such as name, address and date of birth, but your financial information such as bank details.
Data protection is consistently applied across the Aviva group. To safeguard data, they maintain a framework of controls which is supported at executive level. All employees are required to undergo data protection training on an annual basis. This training covers money laundering prevention, Data Protection, fraud prevention and data security.
No member of staff is able to process a financial transaction (for example, a retirement claim, a transfer out or a refund of contributions) without at least one further level of authorisation. That level of authorisation increases as the amount of the financial transaction increases and in some instances can require three levels of authorisation.
