The ABI has today reported that more customers than ever are benefitting from quicker processing times for pensions and annuity changes.  The Options transfer initiative has seen the addition of new pension providers and an increased volume of transfers for the end of 2009.  Participating pension and annuity providers took an average 11 days to complete Open Market Option transfers in Q4 2009, compared to a pre-Options average of 31 days.   The Options scheme, launched in December 2008, is designed to speed up the exchange of information and funds between pension and annuity providers.

Open Market Option (OMO)

Over 12,000 OMO and Immediate Vesting Personal Pension (IVPP) transfers were completed via Options in Q4, with the average time taken to transfer funds between providers at 11 days – the same figure as Q3 and Q2 2009. This comes despite the volumes of transfers increasing by 70% from Q1 to Q4 2009.  37% of the transfers in Q4 2009 were completed in less than seven days.

Pension Transfers

Options has also delivered major improvements to pension transfers. The initiative has reduced pension transfer times from a pre-Options industry average of 36 days to just 11 via Options in Q4 2009, with nearly 6,000 pension transfers completed via Options.

Maggie Craig, ABI Director of Life & Savings, said:

“Options has made an enormous impact in its first year of operation, and these results demonstrate that success. Historically, processes for transferring DC pension benefits have sometimes been more difficult and time-consuming than consumers, advisers or providers would want and our aim from the start has been to put this right.

“Despite the addition of new pension providers and increased transfer volumes performance has remained steady. With more set to join the service and the number of transfers continuing to increase, Options demonstrates the industry’s ability to pull together to achieve better customer service. Further improvements will be made so that these results are built on in 2010.”

16 major pension providers are now using Options for OMO and IVPP transfers, with a further eight companies now live for the pension-to-pension transfer service launched in August 2009.  Abbey Life and Windsor Life have also signed up to Options and are expected to go live by end April, with further provider announcements expected shortly.

Notes

1.        Enquiries to:

   Kelly Ostler-Coyle       020 7216 7415 (Mobile: 07968 364 302)

Malcolm Tarling          020 7216 7410 (Mobile: 07776 147 667)

Erfan Hussain            020 7216 7411 (Mobile: 07712 841 184)

2.        The Q4 2009 performance report shows that 12,052 OMO and IVPP transfers were completed between 1 October and 31 December 2009, with an average weighted transfer time of 11 days.

3.        The full Options Performance Report for Q4 2009 is available on the ABI web site, www.abi.org.uk.  The 16 providers using Options for OMO and IVPP transfers are AEGON, Aviva, AXA, Canada Life, Cooperative Financial Services, Friends Provident, Just Retirement, Legal & General, LV=, MGM Advantage, Partnership, Pearl Group, Prudential, Scottish Widows, Skandia and Standard Life. Further details are available at www.origoservices.com/optionsproviders.

4.        The eight companies who are now live with the Options pension-to-pension transfer service are AEGON, Aviva, Legal & General, LV=, MetLife, Prudential, Skandia and Standard Life. The average weighted performance for pension-to-pension transfers in Q4 was 11 days, with 5,954 pension transfers completed via Options.

5.        Options was launched by Origo in December 2008. Origo is the leading provider of e-commerce standards and services to the UK's life, pensions, investment and mortgage sectors. Origo is owned by 17 leading UK life assurance groups, and works with product providers, lenders, financial advisers, portals and software companies to collaborate on identifying and addressing cost and efficiency issues that they cannot tackle in isolation.

6.        The ABI is the voice of the insurance and investment industry. Its members constitute over 90 per cent of the insurance market in the UK and 20 per cent across the EU. They control assets equivalent to a quarter of the UK’s capital. They are the risk managers of the UK’s economy and society. Through the ABI their voice is heard in Government and in public debate on insurance, savings and investment matters.

7.        An ISDN line is available for broadcasts.

8.        More news and information from the ABI is available on our web site, www.abi.org.uk.