News June 2018 - Odyssey Pensions

June 2018 sees the launch of a brand new Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) and Small Self-Administered Scheme (SSAS) provider.

Director, Andrew McLaughlan, spoke about the launch and the work leading up to it: “We’re obviously delighted to announce Odyssey Pensions Limited as a new provider in the SIPP and SSAS market. We’ve spent a lot of time planning and bringing together a considerable amount of resource and expertise to ensure that we start confidently and with strength.”

When asked about how Odyssey might fit into what many might describe as a somewhat beleaguered and under-pressure industry, Andrew commented that there were certainly challenges ahead for the industry generally.

“Despite a lot a bad publicity to date,” he added, “we strongly believe that the Self-Invested Pension market remains a vibrant, exciting area of pensions generally. There are many good quality providers out there providing excellent products, but there’s room for more. For a brand-new provider, it’s an opportunity to move forward in the market aware of the direction that the regulators want to take, and without some of the legacy issues that are affecting the industry generally. In fact, the current regulatory environment colours much of what we are looking to bring to our clients through the services and products we offer.”

Odyssey will offer a range of SIPP and SSAS products, as well as Consultancy Services. The latter, added Andrew, is very important. “We find that there are still a lot of people out there with pension schemes that, due to historic circumstances, they have been left on their own to manage. We’re here to help, and clients can choose the level of interaction that they have with us while obtaining guidance as to how to solve problems their pension schemes might be causing them.”

Finally, when asked about the branding, Andrew revealed that the Directors of Odyssey had thought long and hard about a message that conveyed the right feel for the business. “We’re definitely not a one-stop-shop. The reason for promoting the idea of a ‘journey’ is that we want to be a provider that has longevity: both as a business and in the relationship we have with our clients. Our aim is, where we provide products and services to clients, that we will have a more personal lasting relationship with them.”