Two U.K. firms are considering paying their advisers special commissions as an incentive to help stem the bleeding of assets, according to Citywire. Axa Investment Managers and Scottish Widows were apparently reacting to a recent KPMG report that the life and pensions sector lost almost twice as much in assets as it brought in because of poor retention. The KPMG results echoed those of a similar study by Cazelet Consulting, which found the life and pensions sector behind others in hanging on to its assets. According to the study, only 40% of life and pension firms have a set goal for retaining assets, and 80% have a plan for reaching that target, compared with 95% of retail banks. While AXA is exploring different ways to provide incentives, Scottish Widows has hired Wendy Ferguson as its first customer loyalty director. Among the strategies discussed was to lower upfront commissions as a way of discouraging churning.
