Elaine Turtle: Will the new decade be the roaring twenties?

It is quite hard to believe that we have just welcomed in the start of a new decade as 2020 begins. Looking back over the past decade it has been a time of change for the SIPP industry with issues surrounding the miss selling of products, non-standard investments, high profile court cases and also the loss of many firms through consolidation. There has also been a wall of money entering the SIPP sector following the introduction of pension freedoms which saw transfers out of defined benefit schemes so that pension savers could have more flexibility in retirement. So what will the roaring twenties have in store for the SIPP sector? Personally I think there will continue to be a spotlight on the sector unfortunately, one that may see more regulatory scrutiny and could cause continued consolidation and a polarisation of the sector. While not all consolidation has been a bad thing, for advisers it can be problematic especially when they have recommended a firm to a client, only to then have them acquired, with the consequence being the client is with a SIPP operator that the adviser may not have recommended and personal contacts gone. This can lead to reviews that the client needs to be charged for and it can add to client dissatisfaction. With this consolidation, we are also seeing polarisation in the market. On the one hand we have bespoke SIPPs providing the full spectrum of investment opportunities to advisers and clients. On the other hand we have the platform based SIPPs that tend to be lower cost but do not provide the full investment flexibility. While both types of products are appropriate for clients my concern with this consolidation and polarisation is that it will stifle innovation and in the long run inhibit the freedoms that Chancellor Nigel Lawson first announced and that Chancellor Osborne reignited with the announcement of pension freedoms. I certainly don't want to sound like the voice of doom, and in fact, my views are far from that. SIPPs remain a suitable pension product for many pension savers, there are very high quality SIPP operators that are providing technical support and exceptional administration service. They continue to invest in their staff and in technology, this makes the lives of advisers and their clients easier and will hopefully mean that SIPPs are a roaring success in 2020 and beyond. Elaine Turtle is a director at DP Pensions

Elaine Turtle: Will the new decade be the roaring twenties?

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