Rob Hickson, managing director of M&G Wealth Distribution, says Pru UK investments believes in the "power of advice".

Q: What did you put in place over the past 12 months to help advisers?

A: Working closely with advisers and listening to their feedback, we’ve delivered a number of enhancements to our online services, including improved client reporting and the introduction of an online letter of authority and bereavement registration process, making it even easier to do business with us.

2022 also saw the launch of PruFund Planet, designed to deliver a smoothed investment experience for clients while aiming to create both competitive returns and positive environmental and social outcomes.

We believe that not only is environmental, social and governance investing the right thing to do, but sustainable investing will help to deliver better outcomes for future generations and should not be detrimental to longer-term returns.

Q: Why is it important to support intermediary distribution?

A: At M&G, we believe in the power of advice to enable people to grow and protect their money. As such, we work hard to help advisers run successful businesses, and we strive to improve our propositions and support to allow advisers to provide the very best service to their clients. 

We partner with numerous adviser communities and professional bodies to deliver broad industry knowledge and technical expertise. We also have a large network of account managers working closely with adviser firms across the UK.

On the proposition side, our PruFund range of funds are designed to help advisers and their clients navigate choppy markets and geopolitical uncertainty, while delivering over the long term. Advisers have access to the asset allocation and investment expertise of the M&G Treasury and Investment Office, who manage about £159bn of assets.

Q: How have you helped advisers with challenges such as rising costs, hybrid working, etc?

A: Advisers continue to enjoy easy access to our technical and investment expertise through live Q&A sessions, and indeed our full adviser event programme helps to keep advisers ahead of the latest regulatory and legislative updates and business development opportunities. As an example, we ran three consumer duty webinars this autumn with more than 1,400 attendees. 

Q: What are you planning to do over the next 12 months?

A: We work tirelessly to ensure that our solutions continue to provide great outcomes and value for money for advisers and their clients. In addition, we will continually improve our online capabilities, making it easier for advisers to do business with us and free up time to work with their clients. 

As a well-established and trusted partner for advisers, we’ll also help advisers run efficient and productive businesses, for example by building out our support around consumer duty to help advisers embed it in their firms. 

Q: What does winning the five-star award mean to you?

A: This award is a real honour, and I would like to thank all those who took the time to offer their feedback. I’m delighted that advice firms continue to support and recommend our solutions, particularly our flagship PruFund range, which celebrates its 18^th anniversary this November.

More than 450,000 clients are now invested in these solutions, which is a responsibility that we take incredibly seriously. Through M&G Wealth, we will continue to enhance our offering to advisers and remain committed to supporting the advice community in these challenging times.