Mortgage rules could be used for pensions cold calls ban

Mortgage market rules should be used as a blueprint for banning pensions cold-calling, a pensions firm has proposed. A petition started by Chartered Financial Planner Darren Cooke, director of Red Circle Financial Planning in Derbyshire, which called for the ban, has attracted well over 5,000 signatures.AJ Bell, which has supported the campaign, said rule makers should look to the housing market for inspiration as to how to achieve the objective.The ban introduced for the mortgage market by the Financial Services Authority, the FCA’s predecessor, could be used as the starting point for clamping down on nuisance calls in the retirement market.For mortgages, rules state that firms cannot cold-call people “unless there is a pre-existing customer relationship through which the customer expects unsolicited promotions”. No such rules exist for pensions and investments at the moment.AJ Bell senior analyst Tom Selby said: “It should be up to the appropriate regulators, in partnership with the industry, to make this ban work without damaging legitimate communications from firms. We already have a precedent in the mortgage market so it should not take much to apply similar principles to pensions, taking into account specific dynamics in the market.”The Government has indicated there will be an announcement in a few weeks’ time on the issue.Mr Selby said: “We have been campaigning for pensions cold-calling to be banned for months, and it now looks as though we have a Government that is finally taking this issue seriously.“The target for this action must be unsolicited telephone calls linked to pensions. Such calls can put those on the other end of the phone – who may be elderly and vulnerable – under extreme duress and because pensions are often confusing, it can be easier for slick salesmen to pressure people into parting with their hard-earned retirement cash.”AJ Bell said there should be an industry wide consultation on the process for banning pension cold calling.

Mortgage rules could be used for pensions cold calls ban

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