The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has announced recently that transfer times for pension annuities are faster than ever. The service which was introduced back in 2009 was designed to speed up the transfer of annuity funds between insurers. This was on the back of average transfer times of 31 days and above, with the whole process taking around 36 days. The latest figures from the industry show that the average annuity transfer time is now between 10 and 11 days. The majority of major pension annuity providers are now on board with the scheme with several recent additions including Abbey Life, Windsor Life and Scottish Life.
The news is especially pleasing for annuitants giving that there has been an increase in volume as well as several new providers joining the scheme. ABI Director Maggie Craig praised providers saying that… ”…the initiative has handled major increases in volumes and participating providers with ease and, in the case of pension transfers, even delivered improvements on the previous quarter.” Many will now argue that an initiative to ensure that annuitants shop around for the best deal needs to be put on the table by UK annuity providers, as the regulators seem resistant to forcing providers over OMO.
