"The pensions industry has had over a year to prepare for the changes- and it is encouraging some firms have risen to the challenge. But others seem to be failing to move with the times...."
So says our new Pensions Minister Ros Altmann.
It's all to do with time, not 'moving with the times'. Every provider want to move with the times in the sense of moving with the market. But a year is an incredibly small time to turnaround one of the biggest pension changes in a century. Better not to offer than to get it wrong, as, I fear, many will, either in product or pricing.
Well done to Friends Life for not cashing in cheaply, but in reviewing what is best, and the timescales needed to do so. It may be resources. It may be the merger with Aviva. But better not to go there than to offer the product and fail.
The Daily Mail sees it as a U turn. Maybe it's more like parking up in a layby and letting the market mature first.
David Cameron needs to be careful in warning of a crackdown on providers failing to offer the 'freedoms'. Time (again) will tell whether those that have rushed to market have got it right.
So says our new Pensions Minister Ros Altmann.
It's all to do with time, not 'moving with the times'. Every provider want to move with the times in the sense of moving with the market. But a year is an incredibly small time to turnaround one of the biggest pension changes in a century. Better not to offer than to get it wrong, as, I fear, many will, either in product or pricing.
Well done to Friends Life for not cashing in cheaply, but in reviewing what is best, and the timescales needed to do so. It may be resources. It may be the merger with Aviva. But better not to go there than to offer the product and fail.
The Daily Mail sees it as a U turn. Maybe it's more like parking up in a layby and letting the market mature first.
David Cameron needs to be careful in warning of a crackdown on providers failing to offer the 'freedoms'. Time (again) will tell whether those that have rushed to market have got it right.
