Aviva is looking to offer advice on defined benefit transfers after customers suggested they were confused by the options.
Figures from the Pensions Regulator revealed that up to 80,000 defined-benefit pension transfers were made in the year ending 31 March.
The amount people are getting when exchanging their final salary schemes has reached record levels, with people being offered cash lump sums up to 40 times the annual income they would have got if they stuck with their DB scheme.
Aviva said its customers have called on the company to offer advice on transfers, according to a report in FTAdviser’s parent publication the Financial Times.
Andy Briggs, chief executive of Aviva’s UK arm, told the FT that its customers asked for help because they do not understand the implications of transferring their DB scheme.
Last year, Aviva launched an advice business which focuses on customers who are close to retirement.
But Mr Briggs stressed that Aviva had not yet decided whether to advise clients about pension transfers.
Early this year, the Financial Conduct Authority said it was concerned about the processes advice firms were using when recommending defined benefit pension transfers.
Last month, the financial watchdog revealed it would publish a consultation paper on DB transfers in "due course".
katherine.denham@ft.com
