Regulation

The freedom to sell your annuity (read: The freedom to get screwed)

The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) and Citizens Advice have released job specs for people looking to provide pensions 'guidance' - with each organisation requesting different levels of desired pensions knowledge.

Adviser network Financial Ltd has received numerous applications from firms to join since a recruitment ban was lifted late last year, director Brian Galvin has said.

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is to make further cuts to its operating budget in the coming financial year and has frozen its levy at £23.3m.

Steve Webb's plan to extend pension freedoms to all retirees, creating a market for annuity resales, is well-meaning but unlikely to work in practice, Fidelity retirement director Alan Higham has said.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) must establish a ‘second line of defence' for retirees ahead of pension freedom or the industry faces another major mis-selling scandal, according to MPs.

Advisers are charging clients more post-Retail Distribution Review (RDR), despite falling product prices, a consultancy hired by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has found.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has declared the Retail Distribution Review (RDR), its "once in a generation" project to revamp the retail investment advice market, is working, though some concerns remain on the costs and labels of advisers' services....

Less than a tenth of the population has complex enough needs to warrant the fees they would pay for advice, and would be better served by guidance, an IFA has said.

The chairman of IFA network Sense has called on advisers to come up with a "sensibly priced" at-retirement service, saying the prospect of non-advised drawdown left him "horrified".