NAPF response to FCA Retirement Income Market Study: Interim Report

The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) has welcomed the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) comprehensive analysis of the current retirement income market and consideration of the issues that arise from the changes introduced by the Freedom and Choice agenda.

The NAPF makes some key points in its response:

• The NAPF is calling on the FCA, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and The Pensions Regulator (TPR) to work together closely to ensure that regulation is fit for a future where consumer choices will be more complex and for translating to the trust-based sector.
• The FCA, together with the DWP and TPR, should be clear about what constitutes a ‘good’ outcome and regulate only where it drives progress towards ‘good’. Clarity on outcomes will also help in the development of the right framing, heuristics and other behavioural techniques which the NAPF agrees will be essential in helping savers as well as helping to shape good, new retirement income solutions.
• In designing rules, the FCA will need to consider the emergence of new customer journeys into retirement and retirement income vehicles in such a way that it does not inhibit schemes from delivering good outcomes for their members.

The NAPF wishes to contribute further to this debate and the development of regulations for the new retirement income landscape. It will be important that the debate is carried out with reference to and an acknowledgement of the interaction other initiatives and regulations, in particular the latest proposals for automatic transfers and charge cap.

Read ‘FCA Interim Report on Retirement Income Market Study – an NAPF response’.

For more detail or to comment please contact the NAPF press office.

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Notes to editors:
The NAPF
The NAPF is the voice of workplace pensions in the UK. We speak for over 1,300 pension schemes that provide pensions for over 17 million people and have more than £900 billion of assets. We also have 400 members from businesses supporting the pensions sector.

We aim to help everyone get more out of their retirement savings. To do this we spread best practice among our members, challenge regulation where it adds more cost than benefit and promote policies that add value for savers.

Contacts:

Lucy Grubb, Head of Media and PR, NAPF, 020 7601 1726 or 07713 073023, [email protected]

Eleanor Bennett, Press Officer, NAPF, 020 7601 1718 or 07825 171 446, [email protected]