Suffolk Life, based in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, is a British pensions administrator. It mainly provides the administration of

self-invested personal pension A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is the name given to the type of UK government-approved personal pension scheme which allows individuals to make their own investment decisions from the full range of investments approved by HM Revenue and C ...

s (SIPPs), and personal pensions for private funds and self-invested funds of third party providers. Suffolk Life is a non-advice

pension A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

provider and is well known for commercial property expertise. The company was acquired by the Curtis Banks Group plc for £45 million from

Legal & General Legal & General Group plc, commonly known as Legal & General, is a British multinational financial services and asset management company headquartered in London, England. Its products and services include investment management, lifetime mortg ...

on 25 May 2016. The brand aligned with Curtis Banks in 2018 and was completely replaced by the parent Curtis Banks brand and identity in 2019.

History

Suffolk Life was established in 1971 by a group of solicitors, with the aim of allowing commercial property to be purchased using

funds. The business was founded by Alan Catchpole, and then taken over by his son, Henry Catchpole, who held the role of managing director from 1997 until 2010.Henry Catchpole steps down
/ref> One of the company's early focuses was SSAS (

Small Self Administered Scheme Small Self Administered Scheme (SSAS) is a type of UK Occupational Pension Scheme. Schemes are trust-based and established individually, usually by directors of limited companies for specified employees of the company. Since Pension Simplificatio ...

) administration, however in 2006 Suffolk Life sold this book of business to Mattioli Woods,Suffolk Life sells SSAS business
/ref> a specialist pensions consultancy, to focus on the administration of

s (SIPPs). Suffolk Life's first SIPP product (The Suffolk Life SIPP), launched in 1996, was written as an insurance contract by Suffolk Life Annuities Limited, an insurance company within the Suffolk Life group. In 2007 The Suffolk Life SIPP closed to new business. Suffolk Life launched a new product, the MasterSIPPSuffolk Life launches the MasterSIPP
/ref> - a

allowing more flexibility concerning the self-investment of protected rights. 2010 saw the introduction of the SimSIPP - a product aimed at those investors and advisers who would deal solely with one investment manager. They currently have partnerships with several investment managers. Suffolk Life introduced the SmartSIPPSuffolk Life launches SmartSIPP product
/ref> in 2011 - a platform-based

(SIPP) allowing access to funds within selected platforms and a

stockbroker A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stocks an ...

. Suffolk Life provides third-party administration services for self-invested pensions for the following: *

Aviva Aviva plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It has about 18 million customers across its core markets of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. In the United Kingdom, Aviva is the largest general ...

Aviva/Norwich Union with Suffolk Life
/ref> *

Clerical Medical Clerical Medical is a British life assurance, pensions and investments company founded in 1824, and a subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group. History In 1824, Dr George Pinckard formed a committee of physicians and members of the clergy which publis ...

Clerical Medical with Suffolk Life
/ref> *

Prudential plc Prudential plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It was founded in London in May 1848 to provide loans to professional and working people. Prudential has dual primary list ...

Suffolk Life and Cofunds launched the Cofunds Pension AccountCofunds Pension Account with Suffolk Life
/ref> in March 2010, a

pension plan A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

provided by Suffolk Life offering

advisers An adviser or advisor is normally a person with more and deeper knowledge in a specific area and usually also includes persons with cross-functional and multidisciplinary expertise. An adviser's role is that of a mentor or guide and differs categor ...

and

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some specie ...

s access to investments on the Cofunds platform. In 2008, Suffolk Life came under ownership of the

Group.Legal & General to buy Suffolk Life
/ref> On 21 November 2012, Suffolk Life announced they were acquiring a book of business from Pointon York,Suffolk Life acquiring Pointon York business
/ref> following a closure of one of Pointon York's schemes. This brought 1,700 investors to Suffolk Life's existing business. Following this in May 2013, Suffolk Life acquired Origen Investment Services and Pearson Jones Plc's SIPP books, bringing over 700 new SIPPs to Suffolk Life. On 15 January 2016 it was announced that Curtis Banks Group plc - another SIPP provider - was to acquire Suffolk Life from Legal & General for £45 million. The acquisition completed on 25 May 2016. Subsequently, Suffolk Life acquired SIPP provider EPML (European Pensions Management Limited) from special administration on 15 July 2016. Suffolk Life ceased as an active brand at the beginning of 2019, rebranded as Curtis Banks Pensions.

References

External links

Suffolk Life Pensions Limited - Official Company website

Suffolk Life Facebook page - for information about their Corporate Social Responsibility
{{Portal, Companies Financial services companies established in 1971 Insurance companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1971