Consultation closed
05/04/2019
Policy Statement 19/21
30/07/2019
30/07/2019
This Policy Statement summarises the feedback received to our second consultation on remedies from the Retirement Outcomes Review (ROR). It sets out our final rules on investment pathways and the other remedies in CP19/5.
We have revised the implementation date of these rules.
The FCA supports firms’ reprioritisation to focus on preventing and mitigating consumer harm during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. We believe that the benefit to consumers from firms dedicating resources to dealing with critical functions in the short term may outweigh the harm from delaying the implementation of certain polices.
We have issued a package of guidance for pension providers which includes:
We are introducing new requirements primarily to help non-advised drawdown consumers who struggle to make investment decisions. We also intend these requirements to promote competition by making the actual charges paid by consumers clearer, and comparisons easier.
Our new rules and guidance:
The 2015 pension freedoms give consumers more complicated choices to make about how to invest their pension savings, and when to draw on them. In 2016, we launched ROR to investigate how consumers and providers were responding to the pension freedoms.
Our ROR Final Report (June 2018) set out our findings and our proposed package of remedies, which we have consulted on in 2 stages.
We published our final rules and guidance on the first stage in PS19/1 (January 2019). This covered ‘wake-up’ packs, information for consumers about annuities, and changes to make the cost of drawdown products clearer and more comparable for consumers.
This Policy Statement (PS19/21) sets out our final rules and guidance on the second stage.
This Policy Statement will be of interest to firms providing income drawdown. It will also be relevant to stakeholders with an interest in pensions and retirement issues, including:
07/04/2020: Information added Revised implementation date of these rules