Parmenion has been selected as the launch partner for the new Altus Pensions Gateway.

Parmenion’s flexibility surrounding pension withdrawals was said to have made them “an ideal partner for Altus when developing their new Pensions Gateway.”

Many retired people are now enjoying the benefits provided by the new pension regulations, but Parmenion says client experience can be improved by optimising operations with class leading technology and robust business processes.

Aberdeen Asset Management-owned Parmenion has over £1.7bn of assets invested in its SIPP and 25% of that has been allocated to drawdown accounts.

Their award-winning administration and service teams supported Altus in the development of the framework, which provides enhanced levels of Straight Through Processing - a mechanism which speeds up transactions.

Ben Cocks, Altus Business Systems’ director, said: “Pension freedoms have created plenty of opportunities for providers but also some challenges.

“The key is to afford customers all the flexibility they are entitled to when accessing their pension, whilst at the same time keeping operations simple and highly automated. We pride ourselves on finding innovative ways of addressing this sort of operational challenge, but we can only achieve that by working closely with like-minded partners.

“Our collaboration with Parmenion has shown what can be achieved with a good mix of skills and an open mind.”

Integrations with Payroll, HMRC and internal systems mean Parmenion investors can benefit from a more streamlined processing of withdrawals. The already extensive withdrawal frequency options will remain and now also come with faster payment.

Also, due to changes in Payroll provider, tax calculations have moved to a beneficial annual basis.

Parmenion is the first platform to go live with the Pensions Gateway and it forms part of a continued strategy to be market leaders in the investment and servicing of retirement savings.