Retirement

The cost of buying a £5,000 retirement income has jumped by 29% since December 2009, according to an Office for National Statistics report.

The "high profile" of Tesco will boost retirees' inclination to shop around for the most appropriate pension income product after the supermarket giant announced it is to launch an annuity comparison service, according to Tom McPhail.

The Department for Work and Pensions has confirmed it will create an ‘automatic transfer' system for small pots of less than £10,000, allowing workers to take their pensions with them from job to job.

Novia has warned its users that basic errors like failing to use a client's full ISA allowance could lead to legal action from increasingly aggressive claims management companies (CMCs).

Tesco is awaiting regulatory approval to launch an online annuity comparison service, though it does not plan to launch own-brand annuity products.

Wealth manager Mattioli Woods has acquired the pension administration business of Ashcourt Rowan in a deal which could be worth more than £1.3m.

FIVE THINGS

The role of advisers must be a key focus for the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) market study into the workplace defined contribution (DC) pension market, according to Aegon.

The blame for the erosion of trust in financial services must be laid at the feet of everyone involved in the sector, the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA's) director of supervision has said.

Better-off pensioners should pay tax at a similar rate to younger people on comparative incomes, according to the Fabian Society.