Pensions

In this week's Retirement Planner news round-up we highlight five key stories you might have missed over the past seven days.

The story of the thumb-sucker: Is the FCA using supervisory shock tactics?

Royal London new life and pensions business was up 18% to £989m in the first quarter of the year, with group pensions benefitting significantly from auto-enrolment.

The promise of guidance at retirement "does not go far enough" and a new form of retirement-focused advice must be created by the regulator, according to Royal London.

Malcolm McLean predicts politicians will target tax relief ahead of the general election

Did pensions just get exciting?

Just Retirement is "rapidly adapting" its business model to accommodate changes to pensions announced at Budget 2014, after disclosing annuity sales are "at around half of pre-Budget levels".

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is considering ways it can make it clearer to consumers when they are buying products on a non-advised basis online, as more web-based advice solutions are developed.

Prudential has become the latest life company to report severely hit annuity sales in the wake of radical reforms to how people can access their pension.

Pensions communications are failing to break down complicated issues for savers, leaving more than a quarter clueless about how much they have accumulated, research suggests.