Lord Wills – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wills on 2014-04-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what new measures they will put in place to protect against the mis-selling of financial advice to people retiring under the new pension arrangements announced in the 2014 Budget.

Lord Deighton

Alongside the pensions flexibility announced at Budget, the government announced a new guarantee that everyone with a defined contribution pension will be offered free and impartial face to face guidance on their financial choices in retirement when they retire. The Government is consulting on how best to deliver this guidance as part of its consultation, ‘Flexibility and Choice in Pensions’.

The guidance will be designed to help consumers navigate the options available and is not intended to replace the services of professional financial advice. The government expects that many consumers will go on to seek further advice and will ensure that the guidance equips consumers to choose the advisory service that suits their needs.

The government has asked the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to coordinate the development of robust standards for this guidance and a framework for monitoring compliance.

Professional financial advice is regulated by the FCA. The FCA’s statutory objectives and regulatory powers are geared to protect consumers. The FCA has committed to taking a proactive and interventionist approach to retail conduct regulation.