This website is for financial advisers only

We hope that you, your family and your friends are healthy and staying protected during this challenging time. 

On 23 March 2020, the British Government announced strict new measures to tackle the spread of COVID-19.  We recognise that these measures are causing significant challenges for you and your business and we would like you to know that we are doing everything that we can to help you continue servicing your clients.  

We will be updating this page regularly so please check back for updates.

The effect of current market conditions on the performance and value of your client’s Plan
 

As you are aware, financial markets have been experiencing a significant downturn as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Stock market indices such as the FTSE 100 have fallen considerably. These indices have also become highly volatile meaning that they are fluctuating much more than usual. 

As a result of the market downturn, and depending on the Initial Index Level of your client’s Plan, the performance of their Plan may be affected: 

• When your client’s Plan matures, it may not pay a return.
  
  
• If your client holds a Kick-Out Plan, their Plan may not mature early.
  
  
• If your client holds a Plan that puts capital at risk, they may incur a loss. We are constantly monitoring the market to check whether a capital loss is a possibility for any of our Plans (the vast majority of which are linked to the FTSE 100 index). Currently, none of our Plans are on course for a capital loss. However, we will contact your client if markets fall to the extent that we feel that their Plan is on course to incur a capital loss.
   

As a result of the market downturn and the increased volatility, the current valuation of your client’s Plan is likely being affected:
 

• Some of our Plans, particularly our Investment Plans, are currently valuing below 100% as a result of the downturn.
  
  
• This is because the value (the price at which we can encash a Plan in the market) of our Investment Plans will usually fall if the underlying index (e.g. the FTSE 100) has become more volatile since the Start Date of the Plan.
  
  
• It is very important to remember that irrespective of the current valuation of your client’s Plan, all of our Plans are designed to perform as stated in the Plan brochure and Key Information Document, provided that they are held for the full Term (i.e. provided that your client doesn’t surrender their Plan early).
  
  
• If your client’s Investment Plan or Deposit Plan is valuing below 100% and they surrender it early, they will incur a capital loss. We strongly suggest that your client consults you as their financial adviser before surrendering their Plan early, so that you can explain the implications of surrendering their Plan early versus holding the Plan for the full Term. 
   

We will continue to provide updates on this page, and we will write to you and your clients if we feel that their Plan is on course to incur a capital loss.

Business Continuity

We are constantly testing the ability of our systems to protect our staff and service our clients.
 

At our Head Office in London, our staff have been working from home with no reduction in service levels.

At our Adviser Support office in Reading and our Sales office in Glasgow, our staff have also been servicing you from home. Again, we have neither seen, nor expect any noticeable reduction in service levels from either team.

The staff at our Administration office in Newport have been designated as critical workers and accordingly are still able to work on site. Notwithstanding this, 100% of the dealing team are successfully working from home. Only a skeleton staff are currently on site to process the receipt of paper application forms and co-ordinate client mailings. We're very happy with the resilience of our Administration office during this challenging time and so far our service levels have been unaffected. 
 

If we begin to see issues with the delivery of physical mail from the UK postal service, we will update you on this page.

Online Application Forms – Investec For Advisers

We appreciate that seeing clients face to face has suddenly become very challenging.  

For this reason we strongly recommend that your firm signs up to our online platform, Investec For Advisers, to enable you to create, sign and submit your clients’ applications for our Plans digitally.  

The platform allows you and your client to sign application forms digitally (via Docusign), allowing you to adhere to Government distancing rules.

Applications submitted via Investec For Advisers, aside from ISA Transfer applications, do not rely on the UK postal service.  

 

Scanned Application Forms

Due to the challenges you are facing, we have taken the decision to accept scanned PDFs of completed paper application forms. 

This applies to all types of fully completed application form.

If you need to send us a scanned application form, please email the scanned copy to investecsupport@targetgroup.com, including ‘Application’ in the subject line of the email.

If you send us a scanned application form, your client will need to send us a bank transfer for the investment amount to this account: 

Account Name:               INVESTEC BANK PLC HOLDING
Account Number:           41340794
Sort Code:                      40-02-50
Reference:                      [Client Surname and Initials]

When you send us a scanned application form, please help us to ensure that it can be processed by making sure that it has been fully completed and the scanned copy is easily legible.   You do not need to send us the original paper application to follow in the post. 

If your scanned application is for a Corporation, Trust or SIPP/SSAS, the required accompanying documentation (as specified on the application form) will also need to be included within the scanned PDF.

ISA Transfers 
 

We are getting feedback that some ISA providers are having issues processing ISA transfer requests that are sent to their offices.
 

Before you send us an ISA Transfer Application Form, we suggest that you check with the client's existing ISA provider.

Scanned Encashment Requests For Clients Who Do Not Have A Trusted Telephone Number On Record With Us 
 

Where your client does not have a trusted telephone number on record with us, they can now submit their scanned encashment request accordingly:
 

• We require you (the financial adviser associated with the client on our records) to email us the client’s signed encashment request, either as a scanned PDF or a photograph of the instruction to investecsupport@targetgroup.com, including the subject line 'Customer encashment request'.
  
  
• In the same email, you must include a) confirmation that you have authenticated the client’s identify and b) the client’s contact number.
  
  
• Our administration team will contact your client on the number that you have provided to verify their identity.
  
  
• Once verified, we will send the encashment payment to the client’s bank account that we hold on record. If there is no bank account held on record for the client, we will send the encashment payment to the client by cheque to the address that we hold on record for them. 

Contact Us

If you need to speak to someone, please get in touch with our adviser support team on +44 207 597 4065