Switching out

The company conducted an email campaign in September to find out whether advisers would be interested in the concept of switching pensions technology and got a 70% response with the majority expressing interest.

Adviser support

Outdated charges are not the only problem. As Simon Fisher, director at Coleman Financial Services explains, "Charges are only one part of it. A client may wish to change for other reasons like improved fund performance".

His offices use the Pensions Profiler, among other systems. He comments: "We find these independent research tools incredibly useful when providing advice to clients, and it is one of our internal compliance requirements that our advisers use the research systems available to them before making recommendations to clients. I can't see how firms can manage without them - I think the old way of simply getting three quotes and seeing which one looks best went out years ago".

Brian Wilson of Newmarket Financial Planning is also a switching pensions technology fan, saying that the difference between specialised switching technology and generic platforms is "like chalk and cheese, and pretty bad chalk at that".

Overcoming fear

'Churning'is the buzzword when it comes to talk of switching products. Being accused of advising people to switch products at least partly out of the motivation of being paid commission is a fear that some advisers have. But this should not stop them from acting in their clients'best interests. McKenna says, "There is an attitude in this country that it is bad for people to change products, born of regulatory fear. People call it churning and churning is a dirty word. But what's the difference between churning and arbitrage?"

Miller agrees. "A lot of people talking about churning are those with a vested interest - ie the providers. Suddenly they can see some of their business threatened. Our opinion is that there are millions of people with bad policies. If an IFA switches a policy two years later I'd call it churning, but after a long time to review it it is not churning at all". He adds: "A lot of people have been shying away from giving this kind of advice but now more and more are opting for it because of TCF".

Advisers should of course make sure that they do not just follow the recommendations of a technology platform blindly. The FSA says, "Be it software or be it the old fashioned way of telling them, advisers need to make sure that their advice is fit and proper for the client. If you give advice via the software the onus is still on the adviser to make sure it is the right advice. Saying that I wasn't sure because of the software will simply not cut it".

But with technology being designed with TCF in mind and support from industry bodies like the ABI, switching pensions is likely to be more on the advice radar now than ever before.