Osborne may emulate Maxwell as pensions 'destroyer' - McPhail

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Chancellor George Osborne is in danger of emulating Robert Maxwell "as a destroyer of pension savings" with plans for a retirement 'guidance guarantee', Tom McPhail has warned.

Providers are suggesting they can not deliver the guidance impartially, and that it should therefore be the job of the likes of The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS), because that would work in their favour, Hargreaves Lansdown's head of pensions research said. "Why are they doing this? Because they know this guidance won't influence investors' buying decisions. Meanwhile, the insurers will keep talking to their customers, keep exploiting customers' inertia and keep selling inappropriate and poor value retirement income products." Osborne unveiled plans at Budget 2014 that would see al...

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