ILC calls pensions and regulatory chiefs to summit
The International Longevity Centre has been pushing for HM Treasury, the Department for Work and Pensions and the FSA to participate in its upcoming Retirement Income Summit to address issues of disparate regulation.
The think tank sent letters out to ministers of the three bodies yesterday afternoon (Monday 30 April) to request attendence on 20 June at the Actuarial Profession.
According to David Sinclair, assistant director of policy and communications at the think tank, regulatory policies crucially needed to be brought together.
He said: “The big objective for ILC is to get them in a room together. We need to pull these three bits of government together.
“For example, there is no one really responsible for increasing savings levels. Each individual bit of regulation makes sense, but when you put them together it creates barriers.”
The ILC has stated that a combination of RDR, the end of compulsory annuitisation, increasing numbers of small pension pots and autoenrolment meant the complex regulatory system and growing advice gap needed serious attention.
Aviva and Partnership will be summit sponsors. Steve Groves, chief executive of Partnership, said: “The key changes brought by the RDR are to be welcomed.
“However there is the risk of creating an “advice apartheid” unless there is greater clarity on what is information rather than advice, and the processes to access financial products are simplified.”