This compares to eight calendar days in Q1 2009 and a 31 calendar day industry average in 2008. Options, developed and operated by leading e-commerce provider Origo, has also recently been extended to cover pension-to-pension transfers, in addition to the existing Open Market Option (OMO) and Immediate Vesting Personal Pensions (IVPP) service. Five providers are currently using Options for pension-to-pension transfers, with more expected to join in due course. 14 companies are using Options for OMO and IVPP transfers.
Maggie Craig, the ABI's Director of Life and Savings, said:
"Options is a key part of the ABI's Consumer Strategy, designed to improve customer experiences of the insurance industry. Although there has been a slight increase in the average transfer time from Q1 2009, this should not detract from the efforts of pension companies to improve performance on OMO transfers. It is still early days for Options and as more providers go online, it was always expected that average transfer times would fluctuate. The good news is that in just one year, average transfer times have fallen by nearly three weeks.
"Options has shown that by working together, companies can improve the customer experience of securing a retirement income from their pension savings. We urge those companies who have not yet signed up to the initiative, or who have not yet gone live, to do so as soon as possible, so that the benefits of this important initiative are felt by all pension customers."
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