Consumer Focus has highlighted “serious problems” in the Individual Personal Pensions (IPP) market and written to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) asking that further action be taken to tackle consumer detriment in the market.
In a recent study the watchdog identified three major issues as follows:
Some consumers are being advised to switch to different pension products, often with higher charges or higher risk; the case studies in the report suggest that much of this “churn” is not appropriate and could leave consumers worse off in retirement.
The trend for products to charge on-going fees, known as “trail commission”, is increasing in advance of the expected ban arising from the FSA’s Retail Distribution Review; most consumers get little or no benefit from trail commission yet the ongoing charges reduce the size of their pension pot.
Disclosure of costs and charges remains complex and opaque, making it virtually impossible for consumers to shop around or know what represents good value for money; the compound effect of costs and charges over time is probably the most important factor determining the size of a consumer’s pension pot on retirement.
Consumer Focus chair, Christine Farnish, comments: “Our investigation shows that practice in the Individual Personal Pensions market still leaves much to be desired.”
She adds: “The complexity of costs and charges, despite years of work by regulators on disclosure, make it all too easy for savings that should be going into a pension pot to be siphoned off in costs and charges.”
Some health care experts believe that health care reform may cause drastic decreases in the amount of employers offering health insurance to their employees. This could end up being disastrous for the millions of Americans who rely on this health insurance to take care of their family. The Obama administration’s chief actuary of Medicare currently estimates that over 14 million people could lose their health insurance coverage through their jobs over the course of eight years according to the article “Watch for Dramatic Declines in Employer-Provided Health Insurance” by US Rep John Barrasso on JuneauEmpire.com.
Whether or not this ends up happening, it’s causing concern across both party lines. The Serv Full Article…
Oklahoma health insurance for teachers has always been a hot topic, but recently in Oklahoma City, a budget was approved to only fund teachers’ health insurance for 10 months out of the year, rather than a full 12. The Oklahoma Board of Education claims they have voted to fully fund teacher’s health insurance but the missing two months means a lot to the teachers receiving the health insurance.
This is apparently a measure to save money, and the Board feels they are fully funding the teachers for the months they work. District officials are estimating that health benefits throughout Oklahoma will be about $33 million short of the funding required to offer quality health insurance benefits to state teachers. Tim Full Article…
XL Insurance has announced a number of appointments within its International Property business, including Ralf Brunner’s appointment to the role of property and underwriting manager for Germany and Switzerland.
Brunner, who is to be based in Munich, will be directly responsible to Uwe Kutschera, who is presently property underwriting manager for Germany.
As part of the personnel changes, Kutschera will take on responsibility for property underwriting in Austria, CIS/Russia, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
Property Underwriting Manager Switzerland and Southern & Eastern Europe Jürgen Cherreck is to take on a new role spearheading strategic growth and promoting underwriting excellence throughout XL Insurance’s International Property business.
Brunner previously worked for XL Insurance and rejoins the firm after spending two years with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty in Germany as property underwriting team leader.
An advisor services arm of Charles Schwab Corp. will be offering the Laser App form and application tool to the independent registered investment advisory (RIA) firms it serves.
Schwab, San Francisco, will make the Laser App tool available to about 6,0000 RIA firms that use Schwab custodial services.
The Laser App tool, from Laser App Software Inc., Ontario, Calif., helps users fill out and check the accuracy of online forms. Schwab-affiliated RIA firms will be able to use the tool to pull information from customer relationship management (CRM) systems and the Schwab Advisor Center website into forms, Laser App says.
In other business growth news, Phoenix Companies Inc., Hartford (NYSE:PNX), is continuing to expand its relationship with the AltiSure Group L.L.C. Full Article…