Pension industry losing sight of its goal

Ken Wrench, chief executive, Open Annuities Limited, says the workings of the tax system mean that pension schemes are being confused with tax-advantaged savings plans. He argues since the proposal for Alternatively Secured Pensions (ASP) to be implemented after 6 April 2006, many product designers and financial advisers have looked at ways of exploiting the use of ASP as an alternative to annuity purchase to enable individuals to retain control indefinitely over the investment of their pension fund and for the residual capital value to be passed to their surviving family or others. In ...