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| The
first choice for people
in pensions |
| Firms
named and shamed for annuity transfer times
By Rosie Horsley |
| Some
retirees are being forced to wait ten weeks for a simple fund transfer
to take place when exercising the open market annuity option, says
The Annuity Clearing House (ACH). The ACH believes this means thousands of retired people could be missing out on best rate annuity deals, and that the situation is likely to worsen. Windsor Life has been revealed as having transfer times of around ten weeks, as well as life companies Phoenix and Winterthur Life, Scottish Mutual and the Co-operative Insurance Services. Steve Hunt, managing director at ACH, said: “Foot dragging by major providers has frustrated many pensioners who now want to switch their pension funds and take advantage of one of the many excellent open market options, rather than stock with their provider. “I have written to more than 30 of the top pension providers, highlighting the fact that the delays endanger the retirement income of many people and will often cause significant difficulties for people at an already very stressful time of their life.” He said the ACH will bring this matter to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to encourage a clamp down on these “appalling inefficiencies”. “Transfer times are gradually improving but three to four weeks to transfer funds across is still far too long – and, as our research shows, there are clearly some serious offenders out there. “These times include all sorts of delays from getting the right forms completed to getting the necessary certification across. In our view what is required is for industry-standard documentation compatible with all systems to be introduced.” Top of the ACH’s survey came Zurich, Abbey Life and Virgin Money, with average transfer times of 18, 19 and 21 days respectively. - Pensions Age June 2009
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