ABI

The Association of British Insurers has unveiled a five-point action plan this afternoon which it hopes will renew consumer confidence in the financial services industry and begin to close the savings gap.

Consumers are increasingly aware of the need to save more and work longer in order to have enough income at retirement, suggests the latest ABI Savings index.

A flurry of emails has arrived in the IFAonline inbox in response to the ABI's report into commission bias, and the double standard shown by one major life company.

The ABI's publication of proposals for financial advice commission reform have sparked reactions from the IFA sector of the trade body picking up where the FSA left off.

The ABI has called for radical restructuring of commission structures which would see a major shift away from initial commissions towards ‘trail' commissions paid only if a buyer maintains premiums over time.

The ABI's annual summary of new life and pensions business indicates a pick up in Annual Premium Equivalent (APE) figures and a prodigious increase in individual single premium business.

Several individual life offices along with the ABI are now supporting the creation of a pensions clearing system.

The sale of annuities has almost trebled over the past ten years, but consumers are still in the dark over exactly what their money is buying, research suggests.

Aegon's director of corporate development Laurie Edmans has been appointed as one of five non-executive directors of the new Pensions Regulator.

The FSA has issued guidance on their website alerting people to reassess their current status of being either contracted in or out of the Second State Pension, in anticipation of the end of the tax year.