The UK regulator is planning to take a fresh look at how it calculates levels of redress when unsuitable advice is given on the transfer of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes. While advisers claim it’s not just DB schemes that are facing issues, with some defined contribution (DC) pension transfers also proving problematic.
The collapse of British department store group BHS was due largely to “systematic plunder” by its former owners, but raises ongoing concerns over the future of company pension schemes which need to be tackled soon, according to a UK parliamentary inquiry.
Standard Life is launching a suite of materials to offer more support to advisers in the defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) transfer space.
Advisers expect the shift from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) pensions to drive both the number of new business enquiries and the size of portfolios a new survey shows.
Changes to UK pension rules, implemented a year ago, have boosted the retirement confidence of over a third (34%) of those retiring in 2016. As a result, nearly a third (31%) are more likely to seek financial advice, indicating a future win for retirement planners.
Insistent clients seeking pension freedoms under the UK’s new rules are creating a conflict of interest for financial advisers in relation to transfers of defined benefit pension schemes, according to the UK’s Personal Finance Society.
Darion Pohl, chief executive of Prism Xpat provides an expert view on the factors an adviser needs to take into account when considering a defined-benefit pension transfer to a recognised overseas pension scheme for a UK retiree planning to retire overseas.
The retirement for 26,000 members of the Philips UK Pension Fund has been secured as the country’s largest full scheme insurance buyout has concluded.
The number of pension transfers being rejected by providers is increasing as financial advisers are unaware of the permissions they need to authorise transactions, according to a retirement planning specialist.
Phil Loney, chief executive of UK life and pensions company Royal London, has sharply criticised the government’s proposed plans to overhaul the way pension contributions are taxed.
British insurer Legal & General boosted net profits by 8% in the first half of 2015 due largely to growth in its international fund management operations and demand from UK firms looking for help with defined benefit pension schemes.
More than half of UK defined benefit (DB) schemes are planning to quote the transfer value of their members’ pensions on retirement statements, new research has revealed.
