Retirement

Some 353,000 annuities worth just under a total of £12bn were sold by Association of British Insurers (ABI) members in 2013, latest figures show.

It is "not unreasonable" for investors to anticipate a 2% base rate as early as 2016, but increasing rates is still considered a last resort to tame the housing market, according to Bank of England policymaker David Miles.

Opting out should not be possible when it comes to pensions

Retirees could be given the chance to switch annuity providers during a one year ‘cooling off period' after agreeing a contract, the pensions minister says.

Poor practice has been discovered on all annuity price comparison websites by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Some 80% of retirees who stick with their pension provider when they buy an annuity could get a better deal elsewhere, pointing to a huge failure in the open market option, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has found.

The conduct of pension providers' annuity sales teams will form a large part of the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA's) continuing investigation into the retirement income market.

Hargreaves Lansdown's five-point plan for retirement income reform

The FCAs' thematic review of the annuity market has been criticised as not going far enough fast enough.

The majority of employers who have begun automatically enrolling their workers are paying in the minimum level of contributions legally allowed, pointing to potential future disappointment for savers.