Leeds Building Society has launched its proposition for the Retail Distribution Review (RDR).
Kim Rebecchi, sales and marketing director at Leeds Building Society, said: “We created Leeds Financial Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Society, twelve years ago to provide our members with access to regulated investment advice that complemented our traditional building society savings accounts.
“The implementation of RDR is something that we have been working on for a long time and there were a range of options to consider, including offering independent advice, restricted advice, simplified advice or execution only. An alternative to all of these was to pull out of the regulated market completely.
“Since its launch, Leeds Financial Services has been very successful and the feedback we have received from our members is that they valued the service we provided. Furthermore, our Board held the view that, at a time when many other high street institutions are turning their backs on this type of service, with some focusing solely on high net worth customers, Leeds Building Society should continue to offer an advice service. This also fits with our strategy of focusing on personal service and meeting the needs of a wide range of members.
“Therefore, we have carefully considered all the implications of RDR and looked at the range of possible solutions, and decided to work closely with Legal & General to ensure that we deliver a successful post RDR solution for our members and this is available from today.”
Legal & General will become the Society’s main provider of financial service advice and products. The arrangement will also include Individual Protection and Structured Deposit products.
Chris Last, managing director, Legal & General Bank & Building Society Distribution said: “Providing financial advice to customers in a post RDR world is an important part of our distribution strategy and we are very pleased that Leeds Building Society has selected Legal & General to be their partner.”