FCA announces further action on defined benefit transfers

The FCA has repeatedly made clear its expectations of financial advisers as well as strengthening the rules around pension transfer advice. Despite this, too much advice the FCA has seen to date is still not of an acceptable standard.

The FCA is concerned that firms are recommending that large numbers of consumers transfer out of their defined benefit pension schemes despite the FCA’s stance that transfers are likely to be unsuitable for most clients.

Megan Butler, Executive Director of Supervision, Wholesale and Specialists at the FCA said:

‘We have said repeatedly that, when advising on DB transfers, advisers should start from the position that a transfer is not suitable. It is deeply concerning and disappointing to see that transfers are still being recommended at the levels we have seen.

‘Deciding whether to transfer out of a DB scheme is one of the most complex financial decision a consumer may have to make and it is vital customers get high quality advice. Our ambition is for pension transfer advice to reach the same standard as that of the rest of the financial advice market.’ 

The FCA surveyed 3,015 firms and found that between April 2015 and September 2018:

• 2,426 firms had provided advice on transferring their DB pension.
• 234,951 scheme members had received advice on transferring.
• Of those 162,047 members had been recommended to transfer out and 72,904 had been recommended not to transfer.
• The total value of DB pensions where transfer advice had been provided was £82.8bn with an average value of £352,303.
• 1,454 firms had recommended 75% of more of their clients to transfer. One reason a firm may be recommending a large number of clients to transfer is if the firm has a robust initial guidance service triaging clients. 1,346 firms reported data on the total number of clients who had not proceed past the firm’s initial guidance. The total number of clients reported as not proceeding to advice was 59,086. When these triaged clients are factored in 55% of clients were recommended to transfer.

Although the data are not an assessment of the suitability of advice, they give the FCA the information it needs to focus its supervision work to drive up the quality of advice.

The FCA has already started visiting some firms, starting with those most active in the market. These visits will allow the FCA to complete a full assessment of the firms’ approach to DB advice, focusing on key aspects of firms’ business models and processes which could give rise to harm.

The FCA will also be writing to all firms where the potential for harm has been identified in the data the firm has supplied. This will set out the FCA's expectations and the actions firms should take.

Notes to editors

1. Our findings are published in our market-wide data results reviewing DB pension transfers[1].
2. Previous work on DB transfers are found in our review of key findings in December 2018[2]. 
3. Any customer who has concerns about the advice they received when transferring out of DB scheme should first off contact the firm which gave them the advice.
4. On 1 April 2013, the FCA became responsible for the conduct supervision of all regulated financial firms and the prudential supervision of those not supervised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
5. The FCA has an overarching strategic objective of ensuring the relevant markets function well. To support this it has three operational objectives: to secure an appropriate degree of protection for consumers; to protect and enhance the integrity of the UK financial system; and to promote effective competition in the interests of consumers.
6. Find out more information about the FCA[3].