Member News
15th June 2012A Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) report that claims the retirement savings industry "is in the last chance saloon of public opinion" has been criticised by Investment Management Association (IMA).
The report, entitled 'Put The Saver First', says public hostility towards the industry contributes to Britain's lack of a savings culture and puts forward 104 recommendations for reform of the pensions industry.
Chief executive of the IMA Richard Saunders said:
"While the report rightly focuses on some important issues, it also contains a worrying number of inaccuracies.
"These sorts of errors don't help the debate and risk misleading investors, causing them unnecessary concern and potentially undermining the long-term savings culture that we need."
Mr Saunders said the investment management industry is already taking a number of initiatives to provide simplicity and improve consumer confidence.
"The IMA has been working with its members for several months on industry guidance for better disclosure of fund charges and trading costs – this is due to be issued shortly," he said.
"The Investment Governance Group, of which IMA is a member, is a joint industry and government initiative, whose aim is to encourage high standards of investment governance across a range of work-based pension schemes.
"The IMA and ABI have recently announced they plan to undertake a series of initiatives to build industry standards, beginning with the design, implementation and delivery of default pensions funds."
The CPS report calls for a new industry-wide DC pension pot consolidation service and for the annuity Open Market Option to be replaced by mandatory exercise through the clearing house, which should offer a limited number of simple, standardised annuity contracts, plus a more tailored suite of enhanced annuities.