FCA to mandate annuity comparison tool

The regulator will consult later in the year on rules governing the use of the tool, which had pushed up shopping around level from 13% to 40% when tested on consumers in recent months. The FCA had recommended firms use a comparator after it had found in successive market studies large numbers of people were never looking outside their existing pension provider before buying an annuity. It largely blamed provider communication for the failure in shopping around, which it said, prevented consumers from getting the best deals. In March last year, it asked firms to rank their annuity ...