New pension investments excluding transfers jumped by more than a third during the first quarter of 2017, rising to £6.8bn according to Equifax Touchstone.
Inflows for the quarter were more than twice as high year on year, increasing by 55.4 per cent on the first quarter of 2016, according to the data provider.
According to the data, which covers more than 90 per cent of the UK’s leading life and pensions companies, total pension investments including transfers for Q1 2017 reached £12.4bn, up by 30.3 per cent on the previous quarter.
Transfers across all products rose by 23.3 per cent to £5.6bn.
John Driscoll, director at Equifax Touchstone, said: “Growth in pension inflows has proved resilient to political uncertainty and it will be interesting to see if concerns about whether stock markets are due a correction will start to impact inflows for the rest of the year.
“Advisers are receiving increasing requests from clients to opt out of their final salary scheme.
“As investors continue to weigh up the benefits of a guaranteed final salary pension, versus flexible access to their retirement savings, it’s likely this behaviour will follow through into the next quarter.
“Pension transfer volumes will continue the upward trend as ‘insistent clients’ give greater weight to flexibility in their financial planning.”
Inflows into self-invested personal pensions in Q1 2017 stood at £3bn, an increase of 16.6 per cent on Q4 2016.
Total Sipp sales for the quarter were up 25 per cent.
damian.fantato@ft.com
