NS&I launches new phone services for financial advisers

These new services have been introduced in response to feedback received from financial advisers and their colleagues, highlighting the need to make NS&I easier to work with.

The new services available via the NS&I Adviser Helpline are:

• Speed of access: Requests for information on clients’ NS&I holdings will now be almost instant.  Previously, requests could only be made by post and it could take up to 2-3 weeks for a response to be provided.
• More client information available to advice firms:
  • Balances and valuations;
  • Annual and ad-hoc statements;
  • Maturity dates;
  • Transaction information;
  • Other account details NS&I holds.

• New indefinite ‘Client Letter of Authority Template’: Letters of authority will now be held on file by NS&I indefinitely. Previously, firms had to supply a new Letter of Authority, signed by the customer, every time they requested information. Going forwards, only this new template will be accepted by NS&I, but once in place it will remain on file.
• ‘Terms of Business Agreement’: There will be a new agreement between NS&I and each advice firm who wishes to have access to information on their clients’ NS&I holdings. This document forms the legal relationship between NS&I and a financial advice firm, and helps protect the relationship between both parties and their mutual customers.
• Whole firm access: All staff in an advice firm (e.g. financial planners, financial advisers, paraplanners and other support staff) will be able to have access to client information, as long as the firm has signed and supplied a ‘Terms of Business Agreement’ and the relevant ‘Client Letter of Authority’ is in place.

Further information on these service enhancements is available on the Adviser Centre (nsandi-adviser.com), and both documents referenced above can be downloaded from this site.

Later in 2018, NS&I is planning to launch online access to information on clients’ NS&I holdings. This will be via secure log-in on nsandi-adviser.com.

All of these improvements are designed to make NS&I easier to do business with, for both advice firms and ultimately, their clients.

Andrew Pike, Head of Intermediary Relationships at NS&I, said:

“These new features of NS&I’s Adviser Helpline mean that NS&I is able to provide a faster and more comprehensive service to advice firms. We know that advisers often recommend NS&I products and are very supportive of our unique security guarantee, but they also tell us we could make life easier for them when contacting us. Therefore we expect these new enhancements will make a real difference.”

Notes to Editors

1. NS&I is one of the largest savings organisations in the UK, offering a range of savings and investments to 25 million customers who have invested some £147 billion. All products offer 100% capital security because NS&I is backed by HM Treasury.
2. NS&I’s Adviser Centre is dedicated to the needs of advisers, planners and paraplanners. It provides full information on our range of savings and investments; a comprehensive resources area, featuring NS&I forms, leaflets and additional information to make servicing clients easier; a news area, including not just NS&I news but also links to useful content on the HM Treasury website; information about our Intermediary Relationships team; and a selection of the most frequently asked questions.
3. For further information, please contact the NS&I media team.