Christine Hallett founded retirement and SIPP provider Options UK (formerly Carey Pensions) in 2009 and is MD of the company, now part of STM Group. Here, the Options MD talks exclusively to Financial Planning Today about her business following the controversial Adams case, her views on the SIPP market and her plans for the future.

FP Today: Christine, how is business and what plans do you have for the company over the next 12 months?

Christine Hallett: We are in a good place as the market continues to evolve. We have, unfortunately, seen many of our former competitors close as a result of the pressures that they were under. Those pressures included dealing with the portfolios of distressed assets and claims companies focusing on SIPP companies in recent years. The lack of robust PI arrangements has also been a major factor in their ability to continue. Despite all of these factors and many more affecting our sector, I am pleased we have weathered the storm and emerged in a strong position.

We have ring-fenced that period of our business and manage those small number of schemes that have been affected during the years 2010 to 2012. Our PI arrangements have always been robust and this enables us to focus on our existing business which we continue to grow – in recent years that has been achieved through acquisition. We were acquired by STM Group Plc in February 2019 which gave Options UK a stronger financial framework to enable further growth.

STM Group Plc had already acquired the London & Colonial SIPP business and with the acquisition of our business this doubled the group’s SIPP business. More recently, the acquisition of the JLT Premier SIPP and SSAS book of business means we have added another 50% increase. We have also developed a number of strategic partnerships, for example with Wahed for our Sharia SIPP proposition, with IG’s platform for a direct SIPP offering, and with IFS Wealth & Pensions’ platform. Our strategic partnership programme continues to support our organic growth plans, so we are very excited and confident about the future.

FPToday: Tell us a bit more about the Options, how many staff do you have and what’s the annual turnover? Is the business growing and will you acquire more books?

CH: Options UK is a thriving business with plans for further growth. Across the UK we have 145 staff who support our SIPP, SSAS, workplace pension and EBC businesses. In addition to our HQ in Milton Keynes we have a satellite office in Leicester and an office in Cardiff following the recent acquisition of the JLT Premier SIPP and SSAS businesses.

Our WPP (workplace personal pensions) proposition continues to grow well organically. Over the last 3 years average revenue growth has increased year on year by 40%. Our SIPP and SSAS business - through our acquisitions - has increased by 30% over the same period. We have some fantastic opportunities with our new strategic partners which have not yet been realised and will make a substantial difference during 2023 and beyond. We will always look at good books of businesses from an acquisition point of view. Our sweet spot is up to £4million.

FP Today: What is the situation with the pivotal Adams case. Is that now completely resolved and what has the impact been on Options? Have you changed any of your processes or the way you work?

CH: Yes, the Adams case has been finished and completely resolved. There has been little impact on Options UK. The only plea that was upheld was the Section 27 matter which concluded that the unregulated introducer had been arranging the transactions which they did not have the relevant permissions to do. Something we did not know of, if this is what they were doing. We dealt with the clients directly. We won the points in relation to our due diligence and regarding us complying with the COBs principles – so we were pleased that these were not questioned at the appeal, it was those pleas that meant the most to me. We stopped dealing with unregulated introducers back in 2012 - the FCA gave us some exemptions for handling certain unregulated investments subject to us following our due diligence procedures which they had reviewed to ascertain if they were robust, and they clearly were. There is little impact on us as a firm other than having to deal with the Financial Ombudsman Service on other clients who have had a similar experience. We work with our lawyers, our insurer’s lawyers, and the regulators to progress these matters.

FP Today: Looking back on business you did 10 years ago and which later proved toxic, what would you have done differently and how does it affect the way you view SIPP business now? Do you turn down particular types of business?

CH: I think the most important lesson we as a business - and the industry as a whole - has learned is about how and why things went wrong despite all of the efforts that we and other reputable businesses went to in terms of compliance and due diligence.

Unfortunately, the impact of this case has seen the truly independent SIPP industry reduced substantially in size. Advisers who were involved in these schemes have subsequently gone into default and the last person standing (often the SIPP provider) then has to deal with claims management companies and they find themselves in a world they do not recognise. We don’t deal with any unregulated introducers anymore and are extremely strict on what gets through our due diligence procedures. We focus on putting our clients at the heart of all we do.

FP Today: How do you feel the SIPP sector is doing at the moment? A number of advisers have been closed down due to FSCS action but there are still many signs of growth elsewhere and many providers are doing well. What’s your assessment and what are the prospects for SIPPs and SSAS?

CH: There are good opportunities for both SIPP and SSAS. We have good, strong, strategic partnerships too and have just formed a new one for SSAS. We will also be pursuing those that have come as a natural consequence of the JLT Premier SIPP/Cardiff acquisition.

FPToday: Your Master Trust business is growing strongly. What prospects do you see in this area for Options and the sector generally and how can advisers get more involved?

CH: Yes, we are so pleased with what we have achieved with a lot less investment than the major players. We have seen consolidation in this market with SMART and Cushon acquiring Master Trusts, so there has been significant consolidation. There are also good opportunities for the second hand GPP market where there are still a lot of older legacy schemes - usually on high charging rates - that were closed at the point AE came in. We will explore this market and already have a niche dealing with contractor umbrella schemes. I do think advisers could get more involved in the workplace pension market. It’s clear that if they take on the workplace pension scheme for a company that they may be dealing with the directors and senior team and that enables retention of those clients. It should be on everyone’s agenda when they sign up their directors and CEOs of companies.

FPToday: You have been owned by STM since 2019. How is the relationship with STM and are you planning to work closer together? Do you see the firms ever being merged?

CH: As a subsidiary of STM Group Plc the UK is and will be the fastest growing jurisdiction for STM in the future, and we are already integrated with them. They provide a number of core centralised services such as finance, HR, marketing and IT, so we continue to work as a group across the jurisdictions in which we have many core products that UK advisers can enjoy. For example, the Flexible Lifetime and Flexible Pension annuity and Bonds and QROPS are in all our jurisdictions, including Australia. We can deal with corporates that have a UK and international presence. For example, we are currently working with a long-term client and have provided workplace pension for their UK business and are now establishing an international savings scheme for them too. 

So, again, this gives the UK adviser access to a bigger proposition for their international and UK clients.

FPToday: What is your view on the new FCA Consumer Duty requirements and how do you believe Options and the wider adviser and SIPP sectors will cope with them?

CH: It’s a big undertaking and will require a lot of work for all financially-regulated companies. We have put our implementation plan together and take the view that anything which is good for the consumer must be taken seriously. But it just also has an impact on the increasing cost of regulation for financial services companies, so we hope that the time and effort that goes into this project produces significant, long-term benefits for the industry and consumers.

It will be interesting to see how the different financial companies will interpret it. I can see an obvious challenge for platforms that charge everyone the same with no caps etc. In that scenario the larger asset pots would be paying much more than the smaller ones while receiving the same service, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Having said that, we are right behind the Consumer Duty’s aims and are putting an implementation team together with a framework for ongoing assessment of our propositions to our different cohorts of customers, with the ultimate aim of ensure they receive value for money. This has been a factor for all Master Trusts since they were authorised and approved by TPR, so that’s nothing new to us in terms of the basic concept.

FPToday: What do you enjoy doing outside work and is there a skill or talent you have that most people don’t know?

CH:  I have 3 grandchildren so much of my spare time is spent chasing round after them. I also like swimming, and I enjoy my group personal training sessions (sometimes!). I also support MK Dons which is a great community-focused football club that both I and Options UK have a long association with. My skill is surviving on 4 hours sleep a night as I am a workaholic.

But I love travelling and have been to so many countries. Sorry, but I don’t have a particular skill or talent unless you call being with my husband for 45 years - that’s pretty skilful.