Jan
31
2012
The link between Active Member Discounts and Small Pots
On 25 January, Steve Webb gave evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee’s Inquiry into auto-enrolment. Alongside the headline announcement about the changes to staging dates Kate blogged on last week, he indicated he’s no longer planning to legislate specifically against Active Member Discounts (AMD). While it would be wrong to suggest he’s now a supporter of these (and they do tend to divide opinion), he instead plans to tackle the underlying issue of members leaving behind small deferred pots when they change jobs. He has also retained the power to cap charges, but that’s about levels, not particular shapes.
This is very welcome. AEGON has highlighted why the AMD charging approach is a valid and attractive option for many employers and advisers who don’t like cross-subsidies from stayers to leavers. Many want to reward, rather than effectively penalise, those who stay in their employment long-term. The AMD approach was designed with this in mind and we’re keen to continue to offer this alongside other charging shapes.
Jan
26
2012
Pensions Reform: More staging dates is good news for employers and advisers
The last session of the Work and Pensions Select Committee Inquiry into automatic enrolment and NEST took place yesterday, and the special guest was Steve Webb, the Pensions Minister. Given the October announcement on the delay to the automatic enrolment timetable for all employers with more than 3,000 employees I was eagerly waiting to hear what he was going to say.
Webb reconfirmed that automatic enrolment will start from 1 October 2012 as planned. And all employers with staging dates on or before 1 February 2014, that’s those with more than 250 employees, will keep their original staging dates. This gives certainty for these employers, many of whom will already be taking advice on how to comply with their new responsibilities.
Jan
16
2012
RDR : Could we lose trail as well as legacy commission?
Who’d have thought we’d still be responding to an RDR consultation in 2012 – especially one as potentially wide-reaching as that on legacy assets.
Responses to Consultation Paper 11/26 were due in on 16 January. This CP is the FSA’s response to widespread confusion over how to interpret rules around legacy commission. AEGON assumed we’d be able to pay commission on increments to pre-RDR policies, and we certainly weren’t alone. The CP confirmed we, and others, had misunderstood FSA intentions. For individual retail investment products, if there’s advice on the increment, we can’t pay ‘legacy commission’. If there’s no advice, ironically we can. For pre-RDR Group Personal Pensions, we can continue to pay commission on increments and new joiners. While we don’t like the decision for individual, at least we now have clarity and can get on with planning another batch of RDR systems changes.
Jan
10
2012
Pensions Reform: Smoother staging dates
Last November I wrote about the delay in the automatic enrolment timetable for employers with fewer than 3,000 employees. The UK’s largest employers with staging dates between 1 October 2012 and 1 July 2013 won’t be affected by the delay, but all other employers are likely to have a later staging date.
When the delay was first announced much of the pension industry expressed dismay as the auto-enrolment policy seemed to be unravelling. The government has promised to publish new staging dates, which it may consult on, early in the New Year. However, there is some concern that a future government may decide to exclude employers with fewer than 50 employees, as this group’s staging date will now be after the next election in May 2015.
Jan
05
2012
RDR : A Shared Approach to Adviser and Consultancy Charging
Whatever your interest in the Retail Distribution Review, I’d encourage you to have a read of ‘A Shared Approach to Adviser and Consultancy Charging’. AEGON has been working on this initiative with four other providers for a number of months now, with facilitation from Deloitte and valuable input throughout from the Sesame Bankhall Group.
AEGON is well advanced in our RDR implementation. We’ve just announced details of our Adviser and Consultancy Charging shapes. These, and our overall approach to RDR, have been driven by discussing with advisers what they want and need. This is vital – we’ll not be ‘RDR ready’ unless we deliver what advisers and their customers need.
Important note
This blog provides the views of our regulatory strategy team. The views are the opinion of the person writing the entry of the blog and don't necessarily represent the views of AEGON in the UK. They are based on their interpretation of industry developments and their current understanding of UK proposed and actual legislation, and should not be interpreted as recommendations or advice.
Research
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