With news that one in five complaints received by the Pensions Ombudsman are attributed to pension transfers and that this number has doubled since 2007-08, it means that yet again the issues surrounding what constitutes sensible pension advice have come to the fore. And, for many investors already caught up in company schemes with large deficits, the question of whether to stay put or look at transferring out is a very emotive one.
The message from the FSA, as the primary pensions Regulator, is that the focus should be on ensuring higher standards of advice are maintained, but with resources already under full stretch, the simple fact is that there are far too many directly regulated, smaller adviser firms still operating ‘under the radar’ and doing financially lucrative pension transfer business without sufficient regulatory supervision. This is set to be the industry’s next big scandal and it could well be a very painful one indeed. So despite pension roadshows, offers of further training and other encouraging...
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