It appears that Hargreaves Lansdown is the only provider that has halted defined benefit pension transfers because of capacity, with a number of providers confirming that, while they are busy, it is “business as usual”.
Yesterday, it was revealed that Hargreaves Landsown had stopped taking on advisory work for pension transfers, after reaching capacity following the introduction of the at-retirement reforms.
Following this, FTAdviser asked a number of other providers what the current state of play was with pension transfers.
A spokesperson for Prudential said it was “business as usual” and that the firm had “no plans to change existing processes”, adding that while it’s busy, “we’re getting through them”.
Old Mutual said that it has seen an increase in pension transfer activity from financial advisers, which is mainly supported through its membership of the Origo Options service.
Adrian Walker, retirement planning specialist at Old Mutual Wealth, said: “[This] highlights the need that clients have to ensure their pension savings are held in arrangements that can deliver the new pension freedoms both for retirement income and legacy planning that many older style pension wrappers cannot deliver.
“We are operating within capacity in terms of supporting this activity.”
Zurich said it was experiencing a higher volume of pension transfer requests as expected, but had recruited and trained extra staff ahead of the freedoms to ensure that it was well prepared to meet any increased demand.
“We are not experiencing any significant servicing issues and will continue to process requests as normal,” added a spokesperson.
Aegon said it too had seen a significant increase in quote activity since 6 April, but had managed that demand with no material delays.
“Since the beginning of June there has been an incremental reduction in demand however it is still above normal seasonal levels,” read a statement.
A spokesperson for Standard Life also said it was well placed to deal with defined benefit transfers, adding that the rationale behind building financial planning business 1825 was to respond to the changes driving unprecedented demand for advice.
Origo, as mentioned by Old Mutual, handles around 95 per cent of the contract market’s pension transfers through the Options Transfers service.
Paul Pettitt, managing director of Origo, said that since the pension freedoms came in, transfers are taking one to one and a half days longer than pre-April. From 6 April to 30 June 2015, around 120,000 pension transfers took place via the automated service.
“While we cannot speak for non Options users, our data suggests that despite increasing transfer volumes and small rise in transfer times, the man-in-street who is used to being paid monthly and is transferring his/her pension into a retirement vehicle should still get his income within the same timeframe,” he added.
ruth.gillbe@ft.com
