Annuity proposals "stifle" rather than reform

Proposals to reform the annuities market will stifle rather than improve income options for pensioners, says the Investment and Life Assurance Group as defining what an annuity product is would severely limit the field of products available. Responding to the Treasury's Modernising Annuities paper, ILAG Pensions Committee Chairman, Mike Crick, says several companies have put down ideas to develop new forms of annuity, yet defining what an annuity is or should be will prevent their production. "We believe that as long as an annuity complies with the Government's high level principle...