When SIPPs were created in Chancellor Lawson’s Budget speech back in 1989, the world was a different place. We were pre-financial crisis, pre-simplification, pre-freedom and choice and less engaged with saving for the long term, in part due to the pensions industry having been dominated by DB schemes.
In a guest column for Sipps Professional, Karena Woodall, consultant at Mattioli Woods, discusses the treatment of SSAS and Sipps and if there should be any difference in how they are viewed in regulatory terms.
The minimum capital adequacy requirements for directly authorised personal investment firms will be doubled to £20,000 next June.
The FCA has published what it called ‘minor changes’ to its new capital adequacy rules this afternoon – with one expert saying the original proposals had been ‘watered down’.
There will be a shift in the Sipp sector towards firms either restricting their offering to standard assets or offering a full Sipp investment offering including non-standard investments, an industry expert has forecast.
A director at Mattioli Woods has confirmed his firm is holding talks with troubled Sipp providers and the FCA to look at possible solutions ahead of the revamped capital adequacy rules taking effect next year.
A senior figure at a Sipp firm fears operators could put their balance sheets before the best interests of consumers if the FCA fails to get its latest capital adequacy plans right.
The FCA has proposed changes to the new capital adequacy rules - including a relaxation of the frequency of calculating AUA - which it says will reduce firms’ compliance costs.
A senior figure at a Sipp provider fears that a failure to clarify the new capital adequacy rules could lead to worried firms going too far in an attempt to meet requirements and therefore end up increasing costs for clients.
The Association of Member-Directed Pension Schemes has failed with its attempt to bring a Judicial Review concerning the new capital adequacy rules, it has just been revealed.
News from Twitter
Articles by Keyword
AJ Bell
AMPS
annuities
Autoenrolment
Barnett Waddingham
Curtis Banks
DWP
FCA
FOS
FSCS
James Hay
Lisa Webster
Mattioli Woods
Pension
pension freedoms
pensions
pension transfers
Platforms
regulation
retirement
retirement planning
Sipp
Sipps
Ssas
Talbot and Muir
The Pensions Regulator
TPR
Webster
websterblog
Xafinity