Scottish Widows announced it is bolstering its pensions and savings leadership team with the appointment of Carolyn Jones as retirement director.

Jones will join Scottish Widows in February from the UK government’s Money and Pensions Service where she led their policy and strategy team. Jones previously worked at Fidelity International.

“With over 25 years of experience and knowledge of the pensions industry, she will focus on retirement strategy and driving growth, building on Scottish Widows’ already strong position in the market, with annualised annuity payments of £1.1 billion, helping 63.5 thousand customers as they reach retirement and supporting 12 thousand to move into drawdown,” said Scottish Widows.

“The appointment will further enhance efforts in delivering the insurer’s ambition to help people better prepare for and plan in retirement.”

Emma Watkins, Managing Director of Retirement and Longstanding at Scottish Widows, said: “This appointment highlights our intention to really deepen our expertise and deliver a world class retirement proposition.

“This is yet another strategic step we are taking to help create a pensions industry fit for the future and navigate new opportunities such as open finance and the development of pension dashboards.

“Carolyn’s experience and leadership will be crucial to shaping and delivering our retirement strategy and product vision to enable our corporate and individual customers make the most of their financial future. We look forward to welcoming Carolyn to the team.”

Jones said: “This is an exciting time in pensions and for Scottish Widows.

“I’m looking forward to joining the team and shaping a strategy that supports our customers’ needs and equips them with tools and knowledge that supports financial securityin retirement.”