Scottish Widows Platform1 has maintained its ‘A’ rating, the highest awarded for financial strength, from financial analytics firm AKG. Scottish Widows Ltd. has also maintained its AKG ‘A’ rating at an overall provider level.
Financial strength focuses on the ability of a company to deliver ongoing operational capability in the interest of its customers and in line with their expectations. Scottish Widows Platform is one of only five UK platforms to hold the highest AKG platform rating of ‘A’, described as ‘superior’ financial strength.
AKG’s financial strength ratings provide financial advisers with an independent assessment of a company’s financial resilience. The financial strength assessment is centred on the operational business level but also considers the parental strength and support of Lloyds Banking Group.
Financial strength is an important consideration for advisers and investors given current market conditions and the impact of Consumer Duty. In Scottish Widows Platform’s recent Investor Confidence Barometer*, more than a third (35%) of advisers cited financial strength as a top issue which came up in their due diligence checks. A majority of surveyed advised clients were conscious of the importance of financial strength, with 62% stating that they knew the rating of their platform or provider.
Ross Easton, Head of Intermediary Platform Propositions, Scottish Widows commented: “The financial strength of Scottish Widows Platform and the broader Lloyds Banking Group is the cornerstone from which we continue to build a great proposition for advisers and their clients. We maintain that financial strength must include a platform’s ability to continually invest in its proposition, specifically regarding functionality, user experience, and service. We’re currently in the middle of a three-year £180m investment programme into the platform business, with the ultimate goal of making our platform the ‘most loved’ by advisers.
A huge benefit of being part of Lloyds Banking Group is the support we gain from one of the UK’s leading financial services companies, which includes robust financial strength – a key factor for advisers and their clients today. It’s great to see the continuation of the ‘A’ grade from AKG“
Matt Ward, Communications Director, AKG said: “Scottish Widows Platform has thoroughly demonstrated it’s worthy of maintaining the ‘A’ grade awarded by us at AKG, the highest ranking we award for financial strength. While the fundamentals of the business remain sound, Lloyds Banking Group has continually injected capital to support longer-term transformation projects, and the platform’s approach to risk management remains robust.“
Visit our Due Diligence webpage to view the AKG reports.
1 The specific entity assessed by AKG is Embark Investment Services Limited, which is wholly owned by Scottish Widows.
* The Scottish Widows Investor Confidence Barometer is a survey of over 1200 people conducted by Censuswide and Research in Finance for Scottish Widows Platform, which surveyed the following groups between the 16th and 27th September 2024:
- 501 advised consumers (those that have a financial adviser) with a minimum of £100k investible assets, who have a pension and are aged 35-70.
- 500 non-advised consumers (those that do not have a financial adviser), with a minimum of £100k investible assets, who have a pension and are aged 35-70.
- 200 (18+) financial advisers who have clients, with a representative split by age of the UK adviser population.
About Scottish Widows
Founded in 1815, Scottish Widows is part of Lloyds Banking Group, the UK’s largest digital bank and financial services group. With more than £226bn assets under administration and 10 million customers, Scottish Widows’ award‐winning product range includes workplace and individual pensions, annuities, life cover, critical illness and income protection, as well as savings and investment products. More than 2 million customers access Scottish Widows products and services through the Lloyds Bank and Scottish Widows apps, in addition to accessing directly through independent financial advisers.
About Scottish Widows Platform
Scottish Widows Platform is an investment services platform for independent financial advisers, offering investment products, innovative technology, and tools designed to simplify and enhance their proposition to clients. The platform is trusted by more than 18,000 advisers and 5,400 advice firms, that manage the pensions and investments of almost 166,000 clients. Scottish Widows Platform is a trading name of Embark Investment Services Limited (EISL), which is part of Embark Group. Embark Group and Scottish Widows are part of the Lloyds Banking Group.
About AKG
AKG is in an independent organisation whose core purpose is the provision of financial analysis and review services to support the wider financial services sector and its customers. AKG’s financial strength rating takes account of a range of criteria including: capital & asset position; expense position & profitability; structure & size of funds within the company; parental strength (and likely attitude towards supporting the company); operational capability; management strength & capability; strategic position & rationale; brand and image; typical fund performance and product/service features; operating environment; and ability to withstand external forces.
