Greenwich Associates today named Friends Life, Fidelity and Standard Life as the 2015 Greenwich Quality Leaders in U.K. Bundled Defined Contribution Corporate Pension Services.

Of the 10 DC pension providers evaluated, these firms received the highest ratings for overall quality from the leading corporate benefit consultants interviewed by Greenwich Associates in late 2014 as part of its most recent research of the U.K. DC pension industry.

This marks the third consecutive year that both Standard Life and Fidelity have been recognized for delivering excellence.

Investment Proposition
For the second consecutive year, Zurich leads the market for the overall quality of its investment proposition.

“Providers are pedaling hard to redesign their investment propositions in preparation for the end to compulsory annuitization. This year promises to be a year of significant innovation in this space—and potentially significant competitive disruption” says Greenwich Associates consultant Marc Haynes.

Scheme Administration
For the third consecutive year, Fidelity ranks top for scheme administration. Greenwich Associates notes that of all the key administration factors measured, not a single provider stands out for excellence in providing prompt and accurate reporting to employers.

Member Experience and Communications
Fidelity also ranks top for the quality of its member experience and communications proposition. This category focuses on the value-add elements of service, including the quality of written communications to new and existing members, online resources offered, social media interaction, and commitment to workplace engagement.

2015 Greenwich Quality Leaders: U.K. Bundled DC Corporate Pensions
Since 2007 Greenwich Associates has interviewed leading corporate benefit consultants to evaluate the DC pension providers they follow closely. This year, consultants were asked to evaluate providers on a total of 29 key investment, administration, member experience, and communications quality metrics.

Greenwich Quality Leaders are firms that have distinguished themselves in the market by receiving overall quality ratings that top those given to competitors by a meaningful margin, with all quality leaders scoring in the top quartile of the Greenwich Quality Index Overall.

This year, Friends Life, Fidelity and Standard Life are the firms earning the distinction of delivering the highest overall quality across their bundled DC corporate pension propositions.