Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Financial Conduct Authority in protecting people transferring out of pensions schemes.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Assessing the harm caused by unsuitable pension transfer advice and identifying the most effective ways to reduce it is a key priority for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Last year, the FCA issued new rules and guidance on improving the quality of pension transfer advice. These provide advisers with a framework to better enable them to give good quality advice so that consumers can make better informed decisions.
In December 2018, the FCA concluded a review on pension transfer advice which reviewed the suitability of the advice. The FCA has also requested data from every firm with permission to advise on defined benefit (DB) pension transfers to provide a complete picture on the market. Following the analysis of this information, the FCA will begin a wide-ranging programme of activity with firms in 2019.
In addition to this, the FCA and The Pensions Regulator published a joint strategy in October 2018 which includes a workstream on improving member and consumer outcomes from DB pension transfers.