National Financial Planner and retirement specialist LEBC has backed the Work & Pensions Select Committee’s call for a ban on contingent charging for pension transfer advice.

MPs call on FCA to ban contingent fees on DB pension transfers and establish an easy-to-use online register of pensions advice firms, MPs have demanded.

The run up to the end of the tax year can be a very busy time for advisers and is an ideal time to ensure that clients review their expression of wishes form. Trustees do have the discretion to select who will receive benefits, but will of course take account of any in an expression of wish form.

A judge has ruled in favour of allowing investors to pursue group legal action against a SIPP firm over claims of mis-selling.

The latest figures on pension transfer values, released this morning, showed a fall last month.

The Xafinity Transfer Value Index fell steadily from £236,000 at the end of December to £231,000 at the end of January.

Sankar Mahalingham, head of DB growth at Xafinity Punter Southall, said: “Increases in gilt yields have been the main driver, with inflation remaining relatively stable.”

Graph below courtesy of Xafinity


Screen Shot 2018 02 12 at 09.38.10

The difference between maximum and minimum readings of the index over January 2018 was £6,000 or around 2.4%, Xafinity said in a statement.

The Xafinity Transfer Value Index tracks the transfer value that would be provided by an example DB scheme to a member aged 64 who is currently entitled to a pension of £10,000 each year starting at age 65 (increasing each year in line with inflation).

Different schemes calculate transfer values in different ways. A given individual may therefore receive a transfer value from their scheme that is significantly different from that quoted by the Xafinity Transfer Value Index.

Suffolk Life has today come under a new look Curtis Banks brand.