L&G seals distribution deal with Skandia

Legal & General International (Ireland) and Suffolk Life have named Skandia as their new distribution partner.

Under the link up, customers wishing to invest in an International Portfolio Bond from Legal & General International (Ireland) can now hold and manage their investments on the Skandia Investment Solutions platform.

In addition Suffolk Life, the SIPP specialist arm of the Legal & General Group, has confirmed SmartSIPP also offers access to the Skandia platform.

Until March this year, L&G had an exclusive distribution arrangement with Cofunds, but decided to end that deal to provide it with more options ahead of the RDR.

Skandia UK marketing director Nick Dixon said using a platform to manage a portfolio of funds within an offshore bond or SIPP provides a host of benefits.

"There are no initial charges on any of the funds on our platform, there are risk profiling and asset allocation tools that can help match portfolios to customer needs and the portfolio can be managed and updated easily and cost efficiently."

Legal & General director, platforms and policy, Danny Wynn said: "As we approach RDR we expect that customers will increasingly want to access financial services and products via their platform of choice.

"This is creating new opportunities for platform providers to both extend the services they offer to their existing clients and develop new and mutually valuable client relationships."