Scottish Mutual outlines plans to combine the ScotProv and Pegasus product range
Scottish Mutual has confirmed changes to the Scottish Provident and Pegasus product ranges, following the announcement that Scottish Provident members have voted in favour of demutualisation and acquisition by Abbey National.
The two businesses are expected to join forces on 1 August with Scottish Provident becoming the protection brand for the new group.
Plans for the new product range have been formulated by both Pegasus and Scottish Provident and focus on delivering the best of both companies.
Scottish Provident will continue offering its term product, Self-Assurance, which will now be sold alongside the Pegasus whole of life (WOL) plan. Scottish Provident's WOL plan and Pegasus's term plan will both be withdrawn from the market before the two businesses merge.
Scottish Provident will also be withdrawing its Long Term Care Bond in favour of the long term care conversion option available on the Pegasus WOL plan.
Commenting on this announcement, Roger Edwards, product marketing manager at Scottish Provident, said this approach to long term care is likely to be much more successful than conventional LTC products. He said: 'The long term care bond has been around for four years and the market has not taken off ' we have not sold a great deal. The way forward for long term care is to add it to a menu product.'
However, Brian Lentz, IFA at Portfolio Insurance Services expressed concern as to why the Scottish Provident LTC contract has been dropped in favour of the conversion option on the Pegasus WOL plan. 'As far as we can tell, this is simply a product that reduces the number of conditions covered in return for a reduced premium.'
Edwards added: 'We are now going forward with the strongest term proposition and the strongest whole of life proposition in the market.'
The cover available is also set to be improved, with the new proposition taking the best definitions from each provider, Edwards said.
