Retirement player LV= has taken a majority stake in automated advice business Wealth Wizards.
LV= will inject development capital into Wealth Wizards which will help the company to deliver on its ambition to develop a widely available ‘white-label’ automated advice platform.
The deal will also see Wealth Wizards power CORA, LV=’s retirement advice service. CORA, which is supported by LV=’s in-house regulated telephone advice service, uses Wealth Wizards’ algorithm based advice platform to generate personal advice for pension savers planning for retirement.
The remaining shares are owned by Wealth Wizards’ founding management team and the business will continue to operate its independent financial advice service which is focused on developing low-cost advice solutions for the workplace market.
Richard Rowney, managing director of LV= Life and Pensions, said: “LV= has always championed the importance of advice in the retirement income market and we are pleased to agree this deal with Wealth Wizards.
“The way people fund their retirement is changing and so is the way that people access their savings and this deal is a great opportunity for us to support the development of digital solutions to meet the evolving demands of retiring consumers.”
Andrew Firth, CEO of Wealth Wizards said: “This deal marks an important milestone in our development of digital advice solutions. CORA breaks new ground in the implementation of so called ‘robo-advice’ in the UK market and LV=’s investment will enable Wealth Wizards to continue to pioneer the development of innovative advice products.”