The director of the company offering to take on Hartley Pension transfers decided to do so because ‘somebody had to’, though he does not underestimate the challenges involved.
Speaking to FT Adviser, Anthony Carty, board director of Clifton Asset Management - parent company of Morgan Lloyd - said he understands there will be a lot of work involved with Hartley Pension transfers but believes the team is up for the task ahead.
Morgan Lloyd, a pensions management and administration business, was appointed to receive Hartley transfers in June after a period of due diligence by administrators UHY Hacker Young and interaction with the FCA.
It came after a period of frustration for clients as thousands had been trapped for more than two years in Hartley's Sipps, after Hartley Pensions went into administration.
Carty said he was aware there would be challenges ahead, as the Hartley Pensions business was not straightforward and a lot of clients hold so-called 'toxic assets' within their Sipps, but he believes with time and patience, there will better outcomes for clients.
“One of the challenges that presented itself with Hartley is, of course, [Hartley] had acquired a number of books of businesses and that presented itself with data and technology challenges,” he said.
“Notwithstanding the fact that there's a journey we've got to go on, we think in the end we can all sign off on the fact that Rome wasn't built in a day.
“Those clients that choose to first move to Morgan Lloyd and then stay with it will, in due course, enjoy a better experience than they've had over the past two years.”
But he said it was not an easy decision to take on the transfers, as the business had its existing team and clients to think of.
Therefore, the firm has hired a team that will deal exclusively with the Hartley transfers, so this work does not interrupt other areas of business, and to ensure the right, technical focus is applied to Hartley pensioners.
Apprehensive clients
Clients have been waiting a long time to have any clarity on transferring their Sipp to a new provider, and so many are apprehensive, as reported by FT Adviser.
Indeed, a lot of clients were with Berkeley Burke, Guinness Mahon and Lifetime Sipp, all of which were moved to Hartley Pensions after the client books were bought so their worry is that history could easily repeat itself again.
In response to these concerns, Carty pointed out that they had been approved by the FCA and that clients had a choice this time round and were not being forced to move over to Morgan Lloyd as the firm had not purchased anything.
Thirdly, Carty said Morgan Lloyd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Clifton Asset Management, a large financial services group, which has financial and operational resources and is “not in the business of buying up distressed books of business”.
