Massive drawdown demand to cause 'capacity crunch' - Standard Life

Jenna Towler
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Demand for drawdown is likely to increase by a factor of five when retirement freedoms kick-in, causing a market ‘capacity crunch', Standard Life has warned.

It predicts about 30% of retirees will opt for drawdown income, compared to 6% of retirees today. The insurer said the surge could lead to the market struggling to service clients. Standard Life head of income solutions Alastair Black said: "We expect at least five times more people in the UK opting for income drawdown from April next year. But by the following year you not only have those extra people in drawdown - you have another batch of new customers going into drawdown at five times more than current figures and so on. "So a provider who currently deals with 2,000 drawdown cu...

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