Scottish Widows is to move its Letter of Authority (LoA) servicing to Origo’s Unipass LoA digital channel.
Origo says that Scottish Widows is believed to be one of the first major providers in the UK to mandate a single, digital channel for all LoAs.
Letters of authority are needed to confirm a client wishes to go ahead with a particular transaction but many providers still require a paper document with a signature, leading to potentially long wait times.
Scottish Widows hopes the move will cut servicing times from the current industry standard average of 15 days to just 15 minutes for certain business areas before the end of 2026.
The move to Unipass LoA will come into effect in mid-July and will apply to all Scottish Widows’ Workplace Pensions, Retirements, Platform, Protection, and Longstanding products.
Origo estimates that 80% of advisers already hold a required Unipass certificate.
Ed Parker, head of Adviser Lab at Scottish Widows, said: “Our ambition is clear: to offer the advisers who use our service LoA responses in 15 minutes, not 15 days. We believe this is how LoAs should be done – moving at pace, creating a smoother experience and better results for clients.”
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