More than 32,000 compensated for annuity failings

More than 32,000 pension savers have received £135m in compensation from providers who failed to inform them about enhanced annuity options, the FCA has revealed in its Annual Report and Accounts. A total of £135m has been paid so far to 32,500 customers of Standard Life and Prudential, the FCA said. Last year the regulator took action against “unfair” sales of non-advised annuities. The firms failed to tell customers nearing retirement with significant health and lifestyle conditions that they could get a better annuity if they shopped around for an improved deal. In July 2019 and September 2019, the FCA fined Standard Life £30.8m and Prudential £23.9 million for failures related to non-advised sales of annuities. The FCA ordered redress of £25.3m to be paid to 15,302 Standard Life customers while Prudential offered £110m - including on-going annuity payments - to around 17,240 customers. The fines were part of a total of 15 penalties totalling over £224m imposed by the FCA during the year. Other key highlights from the report were: • 715 consumer warnings about unauthorised firms - a 37% increase on the previous year • 952 claims management companies registered for temporary permissions • £116m reimbursed to victims of ‘push payment’ fraud – up 40% from 2018 • 65 anti-money laundering investigations under way • 324,000 online video views of the latest ScamSmart campaign • Over 1,100 separate whistleblowing disclosures, covering nearly 3,000 separate allegations • Former FCA chief executive Andrew Bailey declined a £40,000 bonus reducing his total remuneration for 2019/20 to £509,000 compared to £592,000 the previous year. • Support for over 3.4m consumers and thousands of businesses affected by Coronavirus Christopher Woolard, interim chief executive of the FCA, said: “The last 6 months alone have shown the FCA’s efforts to ensure as many people and businesses reach the other side of Coronavirus’s immediate impact in as good a shape as possible. “The FCA’s speed of action in the midst of the crisis was made possible by long-term work, much of which came to fruition last year.” FCA chair Charles Randell said: “To ensure that we are able to meet the challenges ahead, we will continue to transform our own organisation, building on lessons from our rapid response to the coronavirus crisis. “This transformation will equip us better to identify harm, intervene more quickly and take tough enforcement action against serious misconduct as we supervise nearly 60,000 authorised firms. “Financial services need to do more to ensure equal opportunities for all. We want to be open about our own challenges in better reflecting the society we serve. So this year we are publishing more detailed information on our gender and ethnicity pay gaps. We also publish our disability pay gap for the first time. We will encourage similar action from the firms we regulate.”

More than 32,000 compensated for annuity failings

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