More than 30 financial advice firms have turned their backs on offering pension transfer advice in the space of just three months, due to problems obtaining affordable professional indemnity (PI) cover, according to the PFS.
The Pension Transfer Gold Standard was launched in April last year by the Pension Advice Taskforce and the PFS, the professional body for the financial advice profession.
The Gold Standard is a voluntary code of good practice for safeguarded and defined benefit pension transfer advice, based around a set of principles.
Firms can adopt and promote this standard and principles, so consumers can better understand and find good advice, and be confident they are dealing with a firm that is going beyond minimum requirements when giving financial advice.
By the end of 2019 more than 1,225 advisers had signed up to the standard, but in the final three months of the year more than 30 firms had pulled out in the space of just 90 days.
The firms that deregistered for Gold Standard stated they were no longer offering pension transfer advice due to restricted access to affordable PI insurance.
The PFS expects the number of firms pulling out of offering pension transfer advice to further increase in the coming months as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) publishes final pension transfer advice rules.
The PFS has re-engaged with HM Treasury and the FCA on the need for a review of PI insurance.
The professional body has also called on members to report poor practice at claims management companies, which it will share with the FCA.
