Last week saw the launch of Virginmoney.com, an online financial services intermediary offering funds, mortgages and its own web-based share dealing service. The website is a 50:50 collaboration between Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Australian financial services giant AMP.
Pete Ballard, sales and marketing director of Virginmoney.com, said the website aims to be the destination of choice for people to sort out their finances, whatever their level of expertise. He said 'They say that more people dealt in shares last year than went to football matches - it is becoming very popular. This site is an easy to use service for people at all different levels of experience. It provides comprehensive and up-to-date information relevant to making financial decisions.'
Funds are a major element of the new site, which will sell a total of 45 funds from six fund managers with no initial fees. Four of the six fund managers - Family Assurance, Gartmore, Invesco and Norwich Union - are selling all their funds through Virginmoney.com, whilst Fidelity and M&G are selling only their existing no-load funds, but may add more later. Initially, Virgin will not sell its own funds - the UK equities tracker or the UK corporate bond - through the site, but hopes to do so once regulatory approval is granted. The selection of funds is smaller than those available through Egg and Fidelity, two other big-name fund supermarkets. Although the range may be increased, according to Virginmoney.com, the company is happy with having a small number of providers. Paul Pester, managing director of virginmoney.com, said 'We are aiming for quality rather than quantity. If other providers are willing to take the initial loads off their funds, then we will look at them. But we think that too much choice is not a good thing.'
Virginmoney.com's online share dealing service is offered in conjunction with existing online stockbroker Sharepeople. It will charge £14.95 per trade, but will not impose an annual management charge (which can be as much as £100), although trades are restricted to UK stocks.
In terms of mortgages, there will be eight lenders offering their products - Alliance & Leicester, Bank of Scotland, Bristol & West, Lambeth, Skipton, Virgin One, West Bromwich and the Woolwich.
The site also carries the latest financial news and information from TheStreet.co.uk and Reuters.
Peter Ballard said that the site could expand over the coming months to offer insurance products, pensions, loans, credit cards and current and deposit accounts. Whilst services are offered through the website with no initial charges, the way Virginmoney.com earns revenues is by receiving a £35 commission for every order of an information pack from an e-associate on the site.
Virginmoney.com is just the latest in a string of e-commerce ventures by Britain's best-known entrepreneur and follows similar enterprises in cars, and more recently, wine. Paul Pester says of the new venture 'We aim to provide our customers with an easy way to make investment choices, while saving them time, money and hassle.
.
Network Tweets
Network BlogsContent
provided by
|
Archive | Resources | Partners | Site Map | Links | Newsletter Archive | Contact | RSS Feeds | About | Syndication | Advertising & Marketing | Recruitment | Terms & Conditions | Privacy & Cookies
Copyright © 2012 - All Rights Reserved - Tax-News.com
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Tax-News.com has taken reasonable care in sourcing and presenting the information contained on this site, but accepts no responsibility for any financial or other loss or damage that may result from its use. In particular, users of the site are advised to take appropriate professional advice before committing themselves to involvement in offshore jurisdictions, offshore trusts or offshore investments.
Write a comment