Manchester-based stockbroker AJ Bell has built its business, and won the Financial News's award for Best Retail Sector Pensions Provider, off the back of both product innovation and punching above its weight in the public debate.

The firm scored an average 3.28 in the voting, a narrow victory over last year's winners Hargreaves Lansdown - which as expected, proved a tough firm to beat in this category. Standard Life, which has done a lot to take the government's pensions auto-enrolment programme to small and medium enterprises this year, came a close third on 3.22, in what proved to be one of the closest-fought categories in the awards.