Pensions - Articles - FCA plan to focus on how we access pensions savings

 Those reforms extended the flexibility of income drawdown to the mass market overnight, so we are pleased to see the regulator is going to be looking more closely how it can help drawdown customers who do not get advice and whether firms are doing enough to help them make informed decisions.

 “Because of the extra risks and costs of income drawdown, it does need to be managed carefully not just over a few years but potentially many decades. Advisers used to have to carry out reviews at least every three years for clients. Now there is no requirement for reviews and often no advice either so the FCA is right to look at whether drawdown clients receive adequate post-sale information to allow them to continue to make good decisions that support good outcomes.

 “People will often need more support with decisions as they age and this fact is recognised in the FCA’s broadening its work on financial vulnerability. It points out that much of the consumer protection legislation is underpinned by the notion of the average or typical customer and how they might behave, potentially leaving those who are vulnerable – either temporarily perhaps due to illness or permanently due to age – far more likely suffer harm than the average consumer.

 “While the financial services industry increasingly looks for mass market solutions, it is more important than ever to make sure we treat consumers as individuals.”