Xafinity is calling on The Pensions Regulator (TPR) to implement an industry-wide central system for sharing resources in order to avoid duplication of work and costs in efforts to combat pension liberation fraud.

In a statement, the pension solutions provider said: “TPR should implement an industry wide sharing of resources in order to increase efficiencies in tackling liberation fraud and help minimise wastage across the industry in duplicating effort.”

It highlighted an example where it had flagged up a potential fraudulent pension liberation case but under current guidelines was unable to communicate this with other providers; leading to a situation where providers would have to carry out their own investigations.

It is also calling for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to review the process for registering a pension scheme because the current process “means that fraudulent schemes can be registered with ease”.

The company’s business development manager Jamie Taylor said: “Xafinity believes the best way for the industry to tackle pensions liberation fraud is for a central sharing of resources. This would prevent providers and regulatory bodies duplicating work and costs.

“TPR doesn’t tell you the outcome of their investigations, so it’s all a bit of a farce! We welcome the use of Action Fraud as the primary agency to report to, rather than picking between HMRC, Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), Financial Services Authority, TPR or reporting to all of them, although there is a failure to consider statutory reporting to SOCA. To effectively challenge this problem the industry needs to act quickly and as one; sharing resources about liberation scams and communicating the outcomes of investigations in a single place is the best way to do that.”

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