Hargreaves Lansdown halts pension transfer advisory work

UK investment manager Hargreaves Lansdown said it has stopped taking on new final salary pension transfer business due to the high volume of requests it has received.

Hargreaves Lansdown halts pension transfer advisory work

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“We are still accepting other pension transfers into our SIPP,” the company said in a statement.

Transfers from final salary or defined benefit schemes, which offer an income in retirement based on a contributors final salary, have soared since the government introduced a package of pension reforms in April granting savers over 55 greater access to their pension pots.

The global consultancy firm, Mercer, recently reported it had seen a 60% increase in the number of people wanting to know the value of their defined benefits (DB) pension scheme.

As part of the new pension freedoms the government introduced strict rules around transfers from final salary schemes to ensure all of those seeking to make a change  received professional advice.

It currently requires those advising on pension transfers to have the pension transfer specialist qualification when giving advice on all transfers from a defined benefit to a defined contribution scheme, regardless of when the transferred benefits are being accessed.

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